Here are some observations from the game:
• The Devils’ energy was perhaps the highest it’s been all season. They hustled, were ahead of the play and had a step on the Blues all night. They used their skating as their asset. They won puck races, they were swarming in the offensive zone and St. Louis was chasing all night. That isn’t a surprise with the coaching change, but the team has responded the right way to the change on the bench.
"Effort is really just hard work. It makes you skate fast and we want to play a fast game. That takes effort," Green said.
"It starts with the forecheck, being hard on pucks," Meier said. "Holding onto pucks. Winning those 50-50 (battles). In front of the net as well. We were harder in front of the net and that's how you win games."
• Meier has no doubt been the hottest Devil as of late. And he’s been playing his best hockey of the entire season. He’s been physical, involved and scoring. With his hat trick tonight, he now has six goals in his past four games, which includes a four-game goal streak. He also has a five-game scoring streak with six goals and three assists for nine points.
• One of the tweaks made by the Devils coaching staff since interim head coach Travis Green took over is putting Meier on the top power-play unit and as the net-front. It’s not a position he’s played a lot of (he was predominantly a flank in San Jose). But he showed great hands in tight from atop the crease to score his opening goal. He corralled the puck in a small window and lifted it on the backhand just over the glove of goaltender Jordan Binnington.
• The Devils united Ondrej Palat, returning after missing one game with a lower-body injury, with Nico Hischier and Meier. The line combined for seven points with Hischier and Palat each recording two assists.
"A good game by the whole line," Palat said, "and the whole team."
• After being a healthy scratch in the previous game, defenseman Simon Nemec drew back in.
"I felt pretty good today," Nemec said. "It was just one game. I'm so happy it was just one game."
"This is not something where I need to see stars, stripes and rainbows," Green said. "I didn't notice him negatively. That's a a good thing."
• It was a nice bounce back effort by goaltender Nico Daws. He was pulled in his last two outings after allowing eight goals on 27 shots total; he surrendered four in each game. He made 23 saves on 24 shots against St. Louis.
"He made all the saves he should," Green said. "I really liked his game. Not just the saves he made but his confidence with the puck, playing it."
• The Devils had arguably their best first period of the season. They had a 2-0 lead and 16-5 edge in shots after 20 minutes.
"It was important for our group to come out play well right from the start of the game," Green said. "It was a very strong first period."
• Forward Tyler Toffoli was held out of the lineup for trade deadline precautionary reasons. He is in the final year of his contract and the NHL's trading deadline is Friday at 3 p.m. ET.
