The Devils played against the Stars in Dallas on Thursday, March 14th at the American Airlines Center. Lately, the Devils have been struggling on and off with winning games... however, they held on for a 6-2 victory against the Stars to end a two-game losing streak while Dallas got handed their second straight loss. Jake Allen, who was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on the 8th of March, made his New Jersey Devils debut and made a total of 35 saves for the Devils in their relieving win.
Devils lineup against the Stars:
Hughes - Hischier - Mercer
Meier - Haula - Bratt
Palat - Nosek - Holtz
MacDermid - Tierney - Lazar
Hatakka - Smith
Bahl - DeSimone
Hughes - Nemec
Allen
Stars lineup against the Devils:
Robertson - Hintz - Pavelski
Marchment - Duchene - Steel
Benn - Johnston - Stankoven
Dellandrea - Faksa - Smith
Harley - Heiskanen
Lindell - Tanev
Suter - Hakanpaa
Oettinger
Wedgewood
Only 15 seconds into the opening 20, Wyatt Johnston struck his 25th goal of the season and extended his goal streak to three games. He fought through three defensemen, then went on to send the puck from the slot past Jake Allen to give Dallas a 1-0 lead early. Erik Haula went top cheese to tie it 1-1 at 14:19 when he chipped a shot in the near corner after he cleared a pass from Jamie Benn, and drove to the net. At 7:56, Craig Smith put the Stars back on top with a shot from the goal line that went in deflecting off Allen for his eighth of the season. Chris Tierney wrapped up the first period in a 2-2 tie at 2:46 for his second goal of the season with a centering pass that ended up deflecting off Miro Heiskanen's stick and past Jake Oettinger.
Dawson Mercer netted his 17th goal of the season to end a six-game goal drought early into the second at 18:29. Mercer shot high on Jake Oettinger's blocker side after receiving a pass from Nico Hischier and spinning to the side of the crease to put New Jersey in front 3-2. At 16:08, Timo Meier pushed it to 4-2 at the high slot off a pass from Jesper Bratt... Tomas Nosek went for the 5-2 lead soon after at 14:48 of the middle frame with his first of the season when his shot deflected into the net off Jani Hakanpaa's stick.
Later into the final frame at 5:35, Alexander Holtz chased down the 6-2 final with his 14th of the season at the bottom of the right face-off circle off a rebound.
Jake Allen on the Devils' 6-2 victory in his New Jersey debut: "Overall, it was good. Not a good first seven minutes, not by myself, but I wanted to dig in for this group, make a good first impression, and try to do the best I could for them. They supported me and gave me some goal support there in the second, but ultimately, at the end of the day, I was really impressed with the way we played with the lead," - "We tried to simplify the game, so the win was obviously crucial for us here in the standings, but I was really impressed with the way the guys play with a lot of maturity in the game."
"Every game is tight and important, especially as we come down the stretch here," Scott Wedgewood said. "There's no lack of feeling in the room, we want to be playing our best hockey as the season comes to a close, and that's what we want out of each other... Just come back, you've got to play, you got to wash it. That's the way it goes, we're pros, and we'll be all right."
Notes:
- Both Timo Meier and Chris Tierney had a goal and an assist.
Meier recorded eight goals in March and ties for the most in the NHL with Kirill Kaprizov.
- Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec both recorded the 50th and 51st points by a New Jersey Devils defenseman under the age of 20 this season, tying for second-most in franchise history (1993-94)
- The Devils recorded their 21st comeback victory, tied with both the Stars and the Colorado Avalanche for the league lead.
- Before being replaced, Jake Oettinger allowed four on 10... Scott Wedgewood made eight saves.
*All photos used by the New Jersey Devils used with permission*
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