Oct 28, 2026 2:00 PM
A disastrous blowout snapped Dallas’ winning streak as injuries mounted and defensive lapses plagued Casey DeSmith. Discover how a shorthanded roster struggled to contain the Devils’ offensive onslaught.
The Dallas Stars snapped a five-game win streak in what head coach, Glen Gulutzan, calls "easily their worst game of the season." While the Stars are missing Matt Duchene, Oskar Back, Esa Lindell, Radek Faksa, and Sam Steel, they called up Dylan Hryckowian and Matthew Seminoff ahead of Sunday's game. The same roster that beat former head coach, Pete DeBoer and the New York Islanders 6-3, fell 5-1 to the New Jersey Devils. Casey DeSmith, who had an excellent pre-season and first two regular season games, allowed five goals which is the most goals allowed in a game this season.
Dallas Stars center Justin Hryckowian (49) celebrates after scoring a goal against New Jersey Devils goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) during the second period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn ImagesThere weren't many bright spots in the game against the Devils, but two were Justin Hryckowian, scoring his second goal of the season and the penalty kill going 3/3 while missing several of their biggest penalty killers for the second game in a row.
Here are my three takeaways from the loss against the Devils:
- Penalty kill: as previously mentioned, the penalty kill killed off all three power-play attempts by the Devils. They currently sit second in the league with a 92.9% success rate, behind only the Toronto Maple Leafs who are at 93.6%. The Stars have not given up a power-play goal in the last 23 attempts, dating back to October 13th. They have been short-handed 42 times this season, which ranks 15th in the NHL.
- Young players stepping up: J. Hryckowian scored a goal in his second-game in a row, a nice deflection that finally made it past Connor Hellebyuck. The goal felt like it gave the Stars a chance to get back into the game, although they would immediately give the goal right back. Arttu Hyry is leading the NHL in face-off percentage and won 63% of his face-offs against the Devils.
- Shots on goal: The Stars were facing Hellebyuck in his season debut, after not reporting to camp, holding out to be traded from the Winnipeg Jets. The Stars are known for being extremely selective in their shots and having low shot volume, but when facing a goalie that is potentially rusty, even if it is Hellebyuck, putting more shots on goal could have been beneficial to the Stars. They were held to just 18 shots on goal through 60 minutes. This was largely in part to the Devils smothering the Stars, which did not allow them to get into a rhythm offensively.
The Stars will have a chance to get their game back on track on Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens. They likely will want to burn the tapes from the Devils game and get back to what they were starting to build on before dropping this one. It is possible Sam Steel will get back into the lineup, which will help get some lines back together and hopefully provide some cohesiveness to the offense.
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