The Devils are fifth in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 23-18-3.
The New Jersey Devils suffered a frustrating 6-2 loss to the Dallas Stars Saturday night at Prudential Center in front of a sold-out crowd.
For the 31st time this season, the Devils surrendered the game's opening goal. Stars' forward Joe Pavelski scored his 19th goal of the season on the man advantage. Jamie Benn and Jason Robertson collected the assists. The goal came a little over five minutes into the first period.
Entering the game, Pavelski had eight points in his last six road games versus the Devils.
After 20 minutes, shots were even at 14 a piece, but the Devils again entered the first intermission down by a goal.
The wheels came off for New Jersey in the second period. Roope Hintz scored a shorthanded goal at 7:58, extending Dallas' lead to two. Matt Duchene's 15th goal of the season was scored with under four minutes remaining, and in the waning seconds, Hintz scored his second goal of the night as his wrist shot beat Devils' goaltender Nico Daws.
Veteran defenseman Ryan Suter tallied two assists in the middle frame.
After 40 minutes, the Devils trailed 4-0 and were booed off the ice at the second intermission.
A little over two minutes into the third period, Craig Smith's fifth goal of the season extended the Stars lead to 5-0. Approximately five minutes later, Wyatt Johnston scored, giving his team a 6-0 advantage over New Jersey.
With six minutes remaining, Jesper Bratt scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season to prevent his club from being shutout twice in one week. With exactly one minute remaining in the game, Tyler Toffoli scored to make the final score 6-2 in favor of Dallas.
Daws made 30 saves on 36 shots. On the otherside of the ice, former Devils netminder Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves on 31 shots.
UP NEXT: The Devils will host the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday, Jan. 22.
LINES:
Tyler Toffoli - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier - Michael McLeod - Dawson Mercer
Curtis Lazar - Erik Haula - Nathan Bastian
Max Willman - Chris Tierney - Alexander Holtz
John Marino - Simon Nemec
Luke Hughes - Colin Miller
Kevin Bahl - Cal Foote
Nico Daws
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