The New Jersey Devils didn't get discouraged after losing the lead they had held for more than 48 minutes. Instead, after allowing the Dallas Stars to tie the game with 52 seconds remaining in regulation, they used a power-play goal by Patrik Elias 40 seconds into overtime to earn a 3-2 win Thursday at American Airlines Center. New Jersey, which led the game for 48:09, got two points each from Elias, Zajac (goal, assist) and Jaromir Jagr (two assists). Cory Schneider made 14 saves.
"I thought we played about as good a road
game as we could play," Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. "The
game plan held them to 12 or 14 shots or whatever it ended up being.
{We were] a little unlucky there at the end [of regulation]. We
persevered and it was a big two points. Both teams were playing for
keeps. We're both in pretty desperate situations, so there was a lot
of contact and lot of battles. I thought we really showed up well."
Dallas forced overtime when Tyler
Seguin scored with the Stars skating 6-on-5 after pulling
goaltender Kari
Lehtonen for an extra attacker. Seguin roofed a shot over
Schneider during a scramble. But the Stars put the Devils on a power
play 28 seconds into overtime when captain Jamie
Benn was guilty of tripping Elias near center ice. New Jersey
scored 12 seconds later.
"What I saw when I had the puck was they
covered everybody. I couldn't pass it. There was only one guy left
open. It was Travis, so I just wanted to put kind of a shot or pass
to him because he was by himself," Jagr said of the
game-winner by Elias.
The Stars, who got a goal from Benn in the second
period, finished a five-game homestand 3-1-1.
"I thought we were awful. I thought we
came out flat," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "We
lost a lot of the battles and got outskated. You don't win many games
like that."
Dallas had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:15 in the
first period after New Jersey's Mark
Fayne was called for holding at 4:30 and Anton
Volchenkov for an illegal check to the head of Seguin at 5:15.
The Stars were unable to capitalize and were held without a shot.
"That's incredible," Schneider
said of the kill. "I've always been a believer that
especially early in the game those extended 5-on-3s can sort of
dictate the outcome. If they get one early, it sort of puts us in a
tough spot, but we had a huge, huge kill and guys did a great job.
All the credit goes to them."
New Jersey scored first when Dainius
Zubrus beat Lehtonen to the short side 10:59 into the game.
Zubrus' one-timer from the right circle came after Jagr fed him from
the slot for a shot under Lehtonen's glove for his 10th of the
season. Dallas finished with four shots in the first period, equaling
a season low. New Jersey had seven.
"We weren't sharp to start the game,"
Stars center Cody
Eakin said. "That's not the way we need to start."
Zajac made it 2-0 when he scored a power-play goal
at 9:50 of the second period by deflecting a shot from Damien
Brunner past Lehtonen on the blocker side. The Stars made it 2-1
when Benn beat Schneider with a short-side backhander from the slot
62 seconds later for his 21st goal of the season. Lehtonen (21 saves)
left the ice with 1:39 remaining in regulation after Jagr (hooking)
and Benn (diving) were sent to the penalty box. Dallas tied the game
with Seguin's 24th of the season off a scramble. After starting their
three-game road trip with a 3-0 loss at the St. Louis Blues on
Tuesday, the Devils knew how important a bounce-back win was against
Dallas. That's exactly what they got. Zubrus sustained an undisclosed
injury and did not play during the last half of the third period and
overtime.
"It's not an easy team to play against.
They're very fast. They're playing hard. We wanted to come out and do
our job. It doesn't matter how but make sure that we try to get two
points here," Elias said. "We'll take it and move on
try to get another two points tomorrow [against the Nashville
Predators]."
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