Devils Lose Hughes, Game to Blues | GAME STORY

ST. LOUIS, MO - The Devils lost center Jack Hughes to an upper-body injury and then lost a contest, 4-1, to the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center Friday night.

Hughes suffered his injury in the first period. One the play, he split the defensemen to get a shot on goal. As he tried to collect the rebound he toe picked with his left skate, fell to the ice and crashed hard into the boards. He was attended to by the athletic trainer. He initially stayed on the bench and played his next shift. But after he went to the locker room and did not return.

"He'll be evaluated (Saturday)," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "We'll see where he's at."

The loss of Hughes deflated the team initially, though they did find some traction later in the game but couldn't find the tying goal.

"We probably had seven, eight minutes after we lost (Hughes)," Ruff said. "After that I thought (Jordan) Binnington made some great saves. ... The opportunities were there to get back in the hockey game. We didn't capitalize on those opportunities."

"I'm not going to lie, we were a little dejected when it happened," Curtis Lazar said. "You have to turn the page when you realize he's not coming back. It's next man up. We have a lot of skill in this room. It's getting tested early here. But I have full belief in this dressing room."

Lazar scored the lone Devils goal.

"Personally, I felt like I've been around and had some good chances. I hope that's a sign of good things to come for me," Lazar said. "It's always a good sign to put the puck in the net. But a win would have been sweeter."

Kevin Hayes scored twice for St. Louis, while Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas also tallied. Two of the goals were empty-netters.

Here are some observations from the game:

• With Hughes out of the game, there was a trickle-down effect. Dawson Mercer was elevated to Hughes’ position in between Tyler Toffoli and Timo Meier. Alexander Holtz was bumped up with Erik Haula and Curtis Lazar. But the toughest trickle was the Devils being forced to double shift someone (often Jesper Bratt and Haula) on the fourth line with Chris Tierney and Nathan Bastian. Playing on back-to-back nights with 11 forwards was not ideal.

• Goaltender Akria Schmid started his first game since Oct. 25, over a week ago. In that contest, Schmid was pulled after a first period in which he allowed three goals on eight shots. This time around, Schmid aquitted himself very well. He made a few quality saves, inclduing stopping Brandon Saad on a breakaway. And neither of the two goals he allowed can be pinned on him. All things considered, it was a good response game from the young tender.

"It was better, but there are still some things I think I can work on and improve on," Schmid said. "The second period I was a little bit feeling (fatigue), but you have to hydrate and stay in the game."

• It was nice to see Lazar get rewarded with his first goal of the season. And he did it in total Lazar fashion. After Alexander Holtz’s shot in the slot was partially blocked, the puck slid just out of Lazar’s reach. He dove forward and was able to whipped the puck back against the grain and into the net beyond Jordan Binnington’s outstretched arm.

"Great second effort goal around the front of the net," Ruff said. 

• Holtz picked up an assist on Lazar’s goal. He has now has three goals and four points in his past six games.

• Bratt (8 games), Meier (6) and Luke Hughes (4) all had their point streaks come to an end.