The Dallas Stars returned from the Four Nations Face-Off break with a strong 4-2 road win over the New Jersey Devils.
A power play goal from Thomas Harley and a short-handed empty netter from Wyatt Johnston helped Dallas start off the final stretch of the season with a win against a likely playoff team in New Jersey.
Goaltender Casey DeSmith was once again stellar in a road start, shutting out the Devils through 50 minutes of action before Jack Hughes tallied two goals as part of a stretch of three goals in 100 seconds. DeSmith made several key saves as part of his 31 in the game and continues to show his athleticism in net. The former Penguin and Canuck has been a near-perfect backup to Jake Oettinger this season.
Dallas got off to a hot start right out of the gates, with Evgenii Dadonov scoring his 16th goal of the season to open up a 1-0 lead. Shortly after, Thomas Harley cashed in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty taken by former Dallas Stars defenseman Brendan Dillon. The recent Four Nations champion with Team Canada found a hole between two Devils penalty killers and beat goaltender Jake Allen high on his blocker side to make it 2-0 within the first six minutes of the game.
It was the DeSmith show until the 10 minute mark of the third period, when on the power play Jack Hughes took a one-timer off a pass from Dougie Hamilton to cut the Stars lead to 2-1. Hamilton had been shot happy throughout the game, finishing with eight shots on goal, but the pass fooled the Stars penalty killers and the strong shot from Hughes got past DeSmith.
Almost immediately after, Matt Duchene took advantage of a poor pass that created an ugly turnover in the Devils zone and regained the Stars two goal lead 3-1. Captain Jamie Benn found Duchene with a quick pass off the turnover and Duchene made no mistake with a wrist shot from the slot.
Just as it seemed like Dallas had regained a grip on the game, Hughes wound up for a slap shot from the left dot and put a knuckle-puck past DeSmith to make it a dangerous one goal game again.
In the dying embers, Dallas did a great job delaying Allen from vacating his crease and giving New Jersey a 6-on-5 advantage. After finally gaining the zone with under a minute remaining, Ilya Lyubushkin got his stick up on Nico Hischier and gave New Jersey a 6-on-4 power play with the empty net and a one goal deficit.
A near miss from Wyatt Johnston killed the first bit of the power play, and Johnston out-worked Timo Meier at the offensive blue line and skated down to seal the win with a short-handed empty netter to make it 4-2 Stars. The shortie was Johnston's third of the season, tying him for third in the NHL in that category.
The win starts the post-Four Nations break off right for Dallas, who are in a tight race in the Central Division and need as many wins down the stretch as possible to secure a good spot going into the playoffs. The Stars will play their last 27 games in the next 54 days, so there won't be much rest for the weary moving forward.
Already there is not much time for celebration as Dallas crosses Manhattan and onto Long Island for a back-to-back game against the New York Islanders Sunday night. Puck drop is at 6:30 p.m. CST and can once again be seen locally on Victory+.
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