NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Devils have been waiting more than a year for Timo Meier to start scoring goals, and he’s starting to deliver with the season on the line.
Meier scored three goals and added an assist on an empty-net score by Erik Haula and the Devils beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 on Thursday night, giving New Jersey interim coach Travis Green his first win since replacing Lindy Ruff earlier this week.
“Winning is a lot more fun and now we gotta keep this feeling,” Meier said after the Devils snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the fourth time in 11 games. “Like I said, we got to work on our game. We got to keep building. We’ve enough games left, where we believe we can still make a big push and put ourselves in a position where we have a shot at the playoffs.”
The Devils are six points out of a wild-card playoff spot with 19 games left in the regular season and they need to put together a winning streak soon.
Getting off to a rare fast start in the game helped, but this is a team that has not won more than three games in a row all season.
“It was definitely a good 60-minute game,” Green said. “It was one of the things we talked about before the game was a defensive commitment, playing a 200-foot game. Everyone’s making a run, games are tightening up and you got to be committed to playing that way.”
Meier’s linemates Nico Hischier and Ondrej Palat each had two assists in his first hat trick since coming to New Jersey in February 2023. Nico Daws made 23 saves for New Jersey, which dropped a 5-3 decision to Florida on Tuesday in Green’s first game.
Brandon Saad scored for the Blues, who have lost two straight and remain outside a wild-card position in the Western Conference. Jordan Binnington had 29 saves.
Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said his team was too soft in the first period.
“We can’t think that we’re good enough to fall behind 2-0 and think we’re going to be able to win ourselves regardless how much time is on the clock,” Bannister said.
Against the Blues, Meier staked the Devils to a 3-1 lead in the first two periods. The Swiss native opened the scoring with a backhander in close on a power play at 13:24. A little less than three minutes later, he got hi s 16th of the season in close on a nice cross-ice pass by Palat.
After Saad closed with gap at 9:03 of the second period, the 27-year-old capped his fifth career hat trick with a shot from the right circle.
Meier got the chance to play down low on the power play because the Devils held out Tyler Toffoli (26 goals) as a precaution in case they decide to deal him before Friday’s trade deadline.
“He’s a big part of the group and making sure that he gets going is important,” Green said of Meier. “It has been a little rocky for him at times to find his game, but I think he’s just feeling better about himself right now.”
Hats quickly were tossed on the ice and the fans at the Prudential Center started chanting “Timo Meier, Timo Meier.”
It was a good news, bad news day for Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist. The 29-year-old signed a two-year, $3 million contract extension. He has six goals and 15 assists in 62 games.
The Swede also was fined $2,000 for his second violation of the NHL rule barring diving and embellish in an attempt to draw penalties.
UP NEXT
Blues: Finish New York area run at the Rangers on Saturday.
Devils: Host Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
