Jaden Schwartz made things interesting when he scored with 3:11 left in the game. But then Joey Anderson scored into an empty net with 57 seconds left, sealing a 4-2 win for New Jersey over the Blues on Friday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
That snapped the Blues' winning streak at eight in a row and ended the Devils' 12-game losing streak against St. Louis.
As such, it was defenseman Marco Scandella's first loss as a member of the Blues in his eighth game since being traded from Montreal.
"We didn't play very well the whole game," coach Craig Berube said. "To their credit they were hungry and they outskated us tonight."
The Blues, who close out a three-game road trip Sunday in Chicago, fell to 40-18-10.
"We didn't execute very well with the puck," Berube said. "Just a lot of bobbled pucks, missed passes. They were quicker than us all night tonight; we really didn't get to our game."
Playing in just his 18th NHL game, and just his eighth for the New Jersey Devils, Dakota Mermis snapped a 1-1 tie with his first NHL goal.
Mermis, a defenseman, beat Jordan Binnington with a shot over the goaltender's glove at the 6:50 mark of the second period. Binnington was screened by his own D-man _ Colton Parayko on the play. Parayko was trying to move Kevin Rooney out of the net front.
It became 3-1 Devils when defenseman Connor Carrick scored his first goal of the season. Again, the score came with Binnington screened in front.
For a while it looked like it was 4-1 when Rooney beat Binnington in tight. But the Blues challenged for goaltender interference and the goal was disallowed because Rooney's skate knocked Binnington's stick and pad away from where the puck was headed.
In the first period, the Blues didn't a shot on goal in the first 8 { minutes of play and found themselves down 1-0 midway through the period. But a Vince Dunn power-play goal got the Blues even at 1 after one against the Devils.
The Blues' second power-play unit, which features two defensemen _ Dunn and Parayko _ has been playing well lately, and that proved to be the case once again when Dunn struck at the 12:31 mark of the period. Fitting since Dunn drew the penalty _ getting tripped by New Jersey's Rooney.
For Dunn, it was his ninth goal of the season and his second in the last four games. For the Blues overall it was the 40th goal scored by one of their defensemen this season, marking the third year in a row the D-corps has combined for 40 or more goals.
Jesper Bratt gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead when he sped around Parayko en route to the net and beat Binnington stick side for his 16th goal of the year 8 minutes and 38 seconds into the game.
The Blues were playing without defenseman Justin Faulk, out of the lineup with an upper-body injury.
