New Jersey Devils Still Living Dangerously, Lose 4-3 to St Louis Blues in Newark

The New Jersey Devils had won five consecutive contests heading into Thursday night's home game against St. Louis.

Well, nothing lasts forever.

The Blues (32-14-7) overcame a one-goal deficit in the third period at the Prudential Center and claimed a 4-3 shootout victory on a goal by T.J. Oshie. The former North Dakota Fighting Sioux forward skated in and fired a puck that dribbled between the pads of New Jersey netminder Johan Hedberg (23 saves). St. Louis won for the third time in its last four outings.

Despite their five-game winning streak, the Devils (31-19-4) had looked particularly vulnerable in the last two third periods they had played prior to tonight.

They gave up four goals in the last 20 minutes on Saturday at Philadelphia after racing out to a 6-0 lead. And they were outshot by a 15-1 count in Manhattan in the final frame on Tuesday, but they still escaped with a 1-0 win after a late Rangers goal was disallowed due to goalie interference.

New Jersey actually outshot St. Louis in the third period tonight. But they couldn't make a 3-2 lead hold up with just under six minutes to go, as Patrik Berglund tipped home a shot from the right point. The Devils thought the play was a high stick and would be waved off—but just like the Rangers thought they had tied the game at the Garden two nights ago on Artem Anisimov's tally with less than four seconds left, the officials thought otherwise.

"When your 6'3" defenseman [Mark Fayne] ducks, and it still goes in, you're pretty confident it's a high stick," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said at nj.com. "But I guess they saw it differently."

Former Wisconsin Badgers backstop Brian Elliott picked up the win for the Blues in relief after entering the game in the second period for Jaroslav Halak. He finished with 15 saves in all. He also beat Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias and former Fighting Sioux skater Zach Parise in the shootout, with Kovalchuk and Parise not able to get shots off. 

Hedberg denied former Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner in the extra session, but it wasn't enough to keep the win streak alive.

The Devils, who got goals from Parise, Adam Henrique and Elias in regulation, did pick up a point to move past Pittsburgh for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

They may lose defenseman Kurtis Foster for a game or more after he was tossed for a hit on Chris Porter early in the third period. It left Porter bleeding from the head, earning Foster a five-minute boarding major and a game misconduct.

Now it's back to work for the Devils on Saturday afternoon in Newark against the Florida Panthers, who will likely start former Devils goaltender Scott Clemmensen in net. The Panthers (25-17-11)—who beat Los Angeles, 3-1, on Thursday night behind 22 saves from Boston College product Scott Clemmensen—are currently leading the Southeast Division; they're 1-2-0 against New Jersey so far this season.