Hischier Scores Twice as Devils Cruise Past Stars In Hellebuyck's Debut

In his New Jersey Devils debut, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 16 of 17 shots to backstop his new team to a 5-1 victory over the Dallas Stars. Nico Hischier led the offensive charge with two goals, while Jesper Boqvist, Luke Hughes, and Jack Hughes also found the back of the net to help secure the win.

Hischier opened the scoring just two minutes into the contest, beating Stars goaltender Casey DeSmith to give New Jersey an early lead. Luke Evangelista recorded the primary assist, while Johnathan Kovacevic picked up the secondary assist for his first point of the 2026-27 season.

The Devils' captain struck again just 38 seconds into the second period, extending New Jersey’s lead to 2-0. Timo Meier and defenseman Luke Hughes collected the assists on Hischier’s team-leading seventh goal of the season.

Jesper Boqvist added to the Devils’ advantage at the 11:45 mark of the middle frame, finishing a feed from Jack Hughes for his fourth goal of the season. Arseny Gritsyuk recorded the secondary assist, extending his point streak to six consecutive games.

Dallas responded late in the second period, scoring on its 10th shot of the game to cut into New Jersey’s lead. Justin Hryckowian found the back of the net in his first career game against the Devils.

However, New Jersey needed just 28 seconds to restore its three-goal advantage. Luke Hughes scored his fourth goal of the season, with Anthony Mantha picking up an assist while skating in his 600th career NHL game.

With six minutes remaining in the third period, Jack Hughes put the game out of reach, scoring his first even-strength goal of the season to make it 5-1. Defenseman Brett Pesce recorded an assist on the play, extending his point streak to three consecutive games.

The Devils return to action Wednesday night when they travel to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche in the second meeting between the two clubs this season.

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