Devils at Blues
The New Jersey Devils look to avoid a third consecutive defeat when they continue their four-game road trip Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues. New Jersey had its five-game overall winning streak and six-game run at home halted with an overtime setback against Buffalo on Friday and began its trek the following night with a 5-2 loss at Washington.
Travis Zajac celebrated appearing in his 800th NHL game by recording a goal and an assist, matching the point total he produced over his first 20 contests of the season. St. Louis accomplished what New Jersey is hoping to when it halted a two-game skid Saturday with a 3-2 triumph over Carolina. The Blues squandered a 2-0 lead in the second period, but Scottie Upshall tallied 8:58 into the third to help give the team just its third victory in 10 games. Brayden Schenn notched an assist on the goal, increasing his team-leading point total to 41 while ending his three-game drought.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, MSG Plus 2 (New Jersey), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (22-10-6): Zajac wasn't the only member of the team to reach a milestone on Saturday, as Marcus Johansson registered a pair of assists to increase his career total to 300 points. The 27-year-old Swede has notched three points in his last two contests after being kept off the scoresheet in each of his previous four. Cory Schneider has made nine consecutive starts in net, going 6-1-2 while allowing three goals or fewer in each of the first seven games before yielding four in each of the last two.
ABOUT THE BLUES (24-15-2): Jay Bouwmeester was activated from injured reserve and returned to the lineup Saturday, recording two shots and a plus-3 rating in 17 minutes, 34 seconds of ice time. The 34-year-old defenseman, who sat out St. Louis' first 21 contests this season after fracturing his ankle during training camp, had missed nine games with a lower-body injury. Blue-liner Alex Pietrangelo collected four assists during his current three-game streak but has gone 20 contests without a goal.
OVERTIME
1. Two of Upshall's six goals this season have been game-winners.
2. New Jersey added goaltending depth prior to its previous game, acquiring Eddie Lack from Calgary and assigning him to Binghamton of the American Hockey League.
3. To make room on the roster for Bouwmeester, St. Louis assigned D Jordan Schmaltz to San Antonio of the AHL.