Despite being on the brink of playoff elimination, the New Jersey Devils defeated the soaring Dallas Stars 6-4 on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.
The Devils did just about all their damage in the first period, scoring four goals in the game’s first 17 minutes and 19 seconds.
The Stars, who clinched a Stanley Cup Playoffs berth over the weekend, made a serious push to tie the game throughout, bringing the score to 4-3 in the second period and 5-4 in the third. However, New Jersey was able to hold off the bombardment, pad their lead late, and sneak out of Dallas with two points.
Jack Hughes continued his red-hot form, opening the scoring and adding another before the first period ended to extend his point streak to six. He’s scored five goals and amassed 12 points in that span.
Jesper Bratt and Connor Brown also found the net in the first for the Devils, scoring their 18th and 19th goals of the season, respectively. Timo Meier hit the 20-goal mark in the third period, a much-needed insurance goal that later became the decider.
Dougie Hamilton, who was skating in his 900th career NHL game, made it 6-4 with a full-ice empty netter in the game’s final minute.
The Stars’ dynamic duo of Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson kept Dallas in the game through the first two periods. Johnston found the twine twice in the first two frames to total 40 goals on the year, while Robertson reached his 39th in the second period.
Mavrik Borque scored in the third period to cut the Devils’ lead back to one, but the Stars were unable to complete the comeback.
Jake Oettinger got the start for Dallas but was pulled after 20 minutes. Casey DeSmith came on in relief and made 15 saves on 16 shots through the second and third periods. Oettinger was credited with the loss, moving to 29-11-6 on the season.
Jake Allen got the nod from Sheldon Keefe on the opposite end, his second straight start after backstopping New Jersey to a narrow 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday. With the win, Allen moved to 13-16-1 on the season.
First Period
The game started with the Stars on the front foot early, dictating the pace of the game and tallying four shots on goal before the Devils could fire off one.
This didn’t stop the Devils from drawing first blood, though, as Hughes scored his first of the night on a nifty power move with New Jersey’s first shot of the game.
The initial lead was ultimately undone by Johnston just four minutes later, who scored his first of the night with a wide-open shot from between the hashmarks during a brief period of 4-on-4.
Before the 4-on-4 time expired, though, the Devils regained the lead through another solo effort, this time from Bratt at 10:49.
New Jersey continued to roll through the first, finding more goals from their skillful second line of Bratt – Hughes – Brown. Brown found the net at 7:08, and Hughes put away a breakaway chance with 2:41 to go.
All four of New Jersey’s goals came from that line, and all four came in transition moments.
The Devils led 4-1 after 20 minutes, outshooting the Stars 8-6.
Second Period
DeSmith led the Stars out of the locker room for the second period, taking over between the pipes for Glen Gulutzan.
DeSmith was excellent in the second period, stopping all nine shots he faced, which helped the Stars get back into the game.
Dallas’s 29.1% effective power play went to work early in the frame when Lenni Hameenaho was whistled for a trip on Bourque in the opening minute of the second.
It was clear to see why the Stars have the second-best power play in the league, as Johnston picked up his second goal of the game just 11 seconds into the man-advantage.
To make matters worse for the Devils, the Stars began to take over the game as the second period wound down.
After a long spell of offensive zone possession, Robertson scored from a sharp angle with 7:29 to go, cutting the Devils’ lead down to 4-3.
As DeSmith continued to thwart every puck fired his way, Allen had to be equally as strong in the final minutes of the second, despite not facing as much rubber.
The Devils narrowly escaped the second period with a one-goal lead, a margin that has proven crucial for their success throughout the season.
Despite scoring twice and generating some serious chances down the stretch of the period, the Stars were outshot 9-7 by the Devils in the second and 17-13 through 40 minutes.
Third Period
Understanding the shift in momentum, the Stars came out to start the third period absolutely flying.
They outshot the Devils 6-0 in the first three minutes of the period and looked to find the equalizing goal, if not for some clutch saves from Allen.
Just when it looked like the Stars were about to tie things up, the Devils found an essential insurance goal from Meier at 13:14, a glove-side snipe from a near-impossible angle. Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer were credited with the assists.
The siege continued from the Stars, who peppered Allen with a total of 14 shots in the final frame.
Ultimately, Bourque broke with a tip-in to tie the game at 5-4 with 6:52 to go in regulation. The goal came with lots of pressure mounting once again from Dallas’s special teams and was scored just as a penalty to Hamilton expired.
The Stars piled more pressure onto the Devils, who were only just barely able to weather the storm.
New Jersey actually did not register a shot for 7:16 straight near the end of the third period. That is, until the 1:00 mark when Hamilton clinched the victory with an empty netter from New Jersey’s end of the ice.
The 2025-26 New Jersey Devils may embarrassingly be worse than the sum of their parts and will most certainly not make the playoffs in April, but they are still perfect when leading after two periods. With the win, they improved their record in that scenario to 22-0-0.
Not only that, but it’s the fourth win out of New Jersey’s last five games. A rare and welcome run of form to take into the final stretch of the season.
Next up, they head to Nashville on Thursday for another road game against the potentially postseason-bound Predators.
James Birle is a rising sports commentator and journalist with extensive experience covering soccer and hockey. A recent graduate … More about James Birle