New Jersey is on a 2-game winning streak as of Wednesday and 4-1 in its last 5. That stretch includes a 5-1 win in Dallas and a 5-2 win in Vegas on the road, and the only loss was to Colorado. The Edmonton game showed both sides of it. The Devils went down 1-0 after 1 and answered with 3 in the 2nd against a team that had allowed 1 goal in each of its previous 3. Then they let the Oilers tie it before winning in overtime. Connor Hellebuyck has been part of the run, 2-0-0 with a .923 save percentage in his early starts, per The Hockey Writers. New Jersey hasn't said who starts in net Thursday.
Neither club plays again before this one. Both played on November 3, so both come in on the same rest. The difference is location. The Blues are finishing an East swing that went through Detroit and Manhattan, while the Devils get a second straight game at home to open their homestand.
The Devils' only listed injury is Seamus Casey, out after a knee procedure. Compare that with the St. Louis list. New Jersey gets to roll 3 healthy pairs while the Blues lean harder on the defensemen they have left, and that's the gap to watch over 60 minutes more than any single matchup.
For St. Louis, the path to a win is the version of the team that beat Boston and Detroit: Thomas' line driving play, depth guys like Kaskimaki and Dvorsky chipping in, and enough goaltending to survive the stretches when the patched-up defense gets pinned. For New Jersey, it's more of the same. The Devils have been scoring in bunches on the road and closing out at home, and that's how a team gets to 10-5.
