Finding Wins: Simon Nemec Scores Overtime Goal to Deliver 3-2 Devils Win Over Blues

First Period

The New Jersey Devils had a chance to take a lead in the first minute of the game when Dougie Hamilton bounced the puck off of Jordan Binnington, giving Nico Hischier a rebound opportunity. His shot was saved, and the puck bounced over Timo Meier’s stick as he came crashing towards the crease. A couple of shifts went by, and Cam Fowler gave the St. Louis Blues the lead on their first shot of the game. From wide by the boards, he wired a slap shot right past Markstrom’s glove.

Juho Lammikko had a wide-open chance to tie the game off a feed from Stefan Noesen, but he could not convert the point-blank shot. He shot it right into Binnington. A couple minutes later, Jesper Bratt took a long pass from Dougie Hamilton off a faceoff for a partial breakaway, and his shot glanced off the far post. The Devils then iced the puck twice, already getting their third and fourth icings of the first seven minutes of the game.

The Devils’ dominant possession finally paid off just a minute or so past the halfway mark in the first. After Meier shot a one-timer off Binnington, off a turnover generated by Bratt, Dougie Hamilton funneled a centering shot-pass that was deflected down. With chaos in front, Timo Meier tied the game at 1-1!

The Devils went to the power play when Nathan Walker was sent off for interference on Timo Meier less than a minute after their goal. The Devils tried to create chaos in front again on the power play, but Mercer was tied up on an early chance in front. Then, Nico Hischier shanked a one-timer opportunity, which led to Dougie Hamilton taking a cross-checking penalty on Mathieu Joseph. The teams played at four-on-four for a minute. Robert Thomas made Markstrom look foolish on a wrist shot above the blocker, as Markstrom didn’t move on the goal that gave the Blues another lead.

Timo Meier was hooked down on a clean breakaway with a minute and 15 seconds to play, but no call was made.

Second Period

The Devils had a poor start in the second period, looking like a team that was having trouble motivating themselves to play again. Jacob Markstrom finally got a chance to make up for his previous misplays when Dougie Hamilton missed Oskar Sundqvist at center ice. Sundqvist went off on a breakaway with Hamilton and Gritsyuk chasing him, and Markstrom stopped the backhand. This set the stage for the rest of the game, with Markstrom building confidence from here.

Getting their second power play of the game after a penalty by Justin Faulk, the Devils had their first big break of the middle frame. Glass had been tripped up in the neutral zone. Dougie Hamilton lost the offensive zone off the draw, and the Devils turned it right over after the re-entry. It took nearly the entire first minute to regain possession, which led to a blocked shot from the point. The Devils regained the zone again, and Timo Meier had a long shot saved by Binnington. Jesper Bratt took the puck and looked for a lane to zip the puck through, turning back and finding Luke Hughes. Hughes passed across for a Meier one-timer, and Nico Hischier tied the game on a rebound five-hole goal!

Juho Lammikko finally got on the box score, but with a penalty for hooking Dalibor Dvorsky. Brenden Dillon blocked a shot from Jordan Kyrou to start the penalty kill. After a second draw, Kyrou had another shot blocked before sailing one over the net. The remainder of the kill looked much better, with the Devils causing some issues for St. Louis’ puck movement. Ultimately, Markstrom only had to stop one shot.

Third Period

The Blues had Jordan Kyrou with an early opportunity, but Nico Hischier made an excellent play on the puck before he could shoot on Markstrom just halfway through the first shift of the period. After a minute and a half of some bottom six play and an waved-off icing that looked like it should have been called, Ondrej Palat took a high-sticking double-minor penalty. Jacob Markstrom made some huge saves on Jimmy Snuggerud in the second minute, as the Devils killed the first half of the penalty.

The Blues cycled slowly in the second half of the power play, but Markstrom made a stop on Kyrou to freeze the puck with just a minute left to kill. This led Jim Montgomery to call timeout for the St. Louis bench, allowing his top power play unit to stay on the ice for their biggest chance to retake the lead again. Hischier and Mercer went out, but St. Louis won the draw. Jake Neighbors tried to backhand the puck through his legs to the front of the net, allowing the Devils to clear the puck all the way down. After three more clearing plays, the Blues saw their power play go by the wayside.

Jacob Markstrom made a huge save on Mathieu Joseph in front to keep the game tied with under seven minutes to play, and the game grew more chaotic as the teams started to take some runs at each other. Unfortunately for the Devils, this seemed to be coming at the expense of their defensive play. Still, the Devils were able to create some chances. Ondrej Palat had one such chance that he sailed high and wide of goal, as he had space to shoot but pulled the puck a little too much.

Overtime

The Blues had the first possession in overtime, and they accordingly tried to waste time before Broberg turned the puck over to Hischier. The Devils changed, and Timo Meier went wide of goal before passing out to keep possession. Jesper Bratt beat Halloway in the neutral zone and went around the net, spinninig back to the blueline before playing catch with Meier. Bratt kept cutting and cutting until he passed Hamilton, whose shot missed the net. Hamilton’s later shot glanced off the glove. The Devils changed again with offensive zone possession, leading to some tired Blues skaters. Broberg, halfway through overtime, had not yet been off the ice. They finally got a change when the Devils lost the zone on their own.

Nico Hischier came back onto the ice and had a chance to take the puck around the net. He did so, finding Simon Nemec for a one-timer at the side of the net! Nemec gave the Devils yet another overtime winner!

The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats

Markstrom’s Bounceback

Things did not start very well for Jacob Markstrom tonight. In the first period, it looked like he was having trouble tracking the puck, and he was sitting a bit too deep in the net. Between letting a shot from the wall beat him on the glove side and not even moving on the goal by Thomas, I was holding my breath and trying to prepare for another rough outing. I even hoped for Sheldon Keefe to bring Jake Allen in. But Markstrom never gave that third goal up, and he earned his victory and second star tonight. I do not think that Markstrom was as good as he was in Detroit, personally, but it’s good to see him have consecutive winning performances. It does seem like he’s starting to have some of his prowess on breakaways and high-danger chances again.

Nico Being Nico

Nico Hischier factored into all three Devils goals today with primary points on each. Through 23 games, Hischier now has eight goals and 21 points, putting him on track for a similar output to the last few seasons. On top of this, Hischier has been having a strong defensive impact, facing the toughest matchups that teams have to offer. His penalty killing is improved from last season, and he is making more plays at even strength again. This is the kind of elevation that the team needed from its captain after Jack Hughes went out with his hand injury, and we are thankful for it.

Nico’s resurgence over the last few games has also boosted Timo Meier, who has been getting involved along the boards and in front of the net. With a second-straight multi-point game, Timo goes up to eight goals and 19 points on the season. If he maintained this pace for the entire season, Meier would finish this season with the second-highest single-season point total (67) of his career. Doing this while crunching defensemen behind the opposing goals makes the top line that much tougher to play against.

What would be nice is more consistency from the rest of the team. Natural Stat Trick reports that the Devils had 18 scoring chances at five-on-five in the first period compared to just five for the rest of the game. High-danger chances were even harder to come by. Nemec’s overtime goal was the first even strength high-danger chance the Devils had after Timo Meier had a chance in front of the net with 1:22 remaining in the first period.

Three of the Devils’ seven five-on-five high-danger chances were created by Stefan Noesen for Paul Cotter and Juho Lammikko, who combined for zero goals on four shots and 0.64 expected goals on those plays. After Lammikko was benched in the third period after his penalty, Noesen had to find shifts with other lines (the Devils had a 100.00 xGF% when Noesen played with players other than Glendening and Lammikko tonight). If Keefe does not trust Lammikko to play in a fourth line wing role, Fitzgerald really needs to make a call to someone in Utica — and he needs to swap Palat and Noesen in this lineup.

Untouchable

Simon Nemec now has five goals and 14 points this season. Two of the five goals are of the game-winning variety. One tied a game to give the Devils an overtime point. The other two were part of a hat-trick performance, leading to one of those overtime winners. And, of course, he also won the game against Washington with a shootout winner. Nemec now has more goals this season than he had points in the 2024-25 regular season. Most importantly, he is doing this while taking on a top-pairing role again. It would be one thing if Nemec was eating up bottom six competition on a third pairing, generating some goals in sheltered minutes. But that’s not reality for the Devils right now, who miss Pesce and Kovacevic while they wait for Hamilton to actually return to form from his injury. If Nemec was not playing like one of the best offensive defensemen in the league right now, the Devils would only be in the playoff bubble, rather than first in the Eastern Conference.

Happy Thanksgiving

As we close out this recap for now, I would like to take a moment to wish a happy Thanksgiving to all. Happy Thanksgiving to the readers of this blog, as well as to the dedicated writers who keep the ship sailing. Happy Thanksgiving to the New Jersey Devils, who have rewarded their fans with hockey that is often interesting to watch, with a flair for the dramatic.

The Devils officially reach the Thanksgiving benchmark in first place in the Eastern Conference.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of tonight’s game? Did you think the Devils deserved to win? What did you think of the change in pace from the first period to the second and third? What did you think of Markstrom’s performance down the stretch? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.