Roope Hintz’s goal with three seconds left before the final intermission in Newark on Thursday night was enough for the Stars to soar to a 4-1 victory as Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood kept the Red Devils from hitting the inside of his net 35 out of 36 times.
Dallas also got goals from Ty Dellandrea, Esa Lindell, and Mason Marchment; Lindell and Marchment scored into an empty net as the third period wound down.
Miles Wood netted New Jersey’s only goal in the second period, tying the game at 1-1.
The Stars played their second away game of a five-game road trip. Dellandrea, Dallas’ 2018 first-round draft choice, scored his sixth goal of the season when he tipped Ryan Suter’s shot past Akira Schmid at 6:03 in the first period.
Wedgewood, a 30-year-old player who spent three seasons over two different stints with New Jersey, made a handful of outstanding saves. He denied the Devils’ leading scorer, Jack Hughes, 13 minutes into the second period. At 15:40, he denied Fabian Zetterlund, who was skating alone down the right side.
Wedgewood also stopped Yegor Sharangovich with a deft save at 10:14 of the third. He stopped 19 out of 20 shots in the second period. He stopped ten more in the third to secure the victory.
WHAT TO KNOW
Both teams came into the contest facing games on back-to-back nights. On Monday, the Stars lost 2-1 at Pittsburgh, with the contest nearly reaching overtime, and the Devils lost 4-3 in overtime to the Rangers in Manhattan.
With the win, Dallas recaptures first place in the Western Central Conference from Winnipeg after losing that top ranking last week. The Stars’ 17-8-5 mark has earned them 39 points on the year, and the Jets (18-9-1) sit looking up at Dallas with 37 points. Dallas also has the fifth-highest point total in the NHL (Boston, 23-4-1, 4 and 7 points, ranks first).
BY THE NUMBERS
Though the Red Devils outshot Dallas by a 36-32 clip on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center, the Stars bested their hosts in hits (19-9), face-offs won (36-28), and takeaways (6-1) and giveaways (6-9).
Bonus numbers: Washington Capital Alex Ovechkin continues to ascend the NHL all-time goals list. He scored a hat-trick on Tuesday night in a 7-3 win over Chicago and became only the third person to score 800 goals in league history, joining Gordi Howe (801) and Wayne Gretzky (894).
WHAT THEY SAID
“It’s obviously a place I consider home,” Wedgewood told NHL.com of playing against his former team. “Drafted in [2010], traded away in [2017]. Back again, waivered away … It’s just a place that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s obviously a fun little challenge, but coming away with a win is a big part of it. It’s nice to be back.”
“It was a disappointing result last night,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer told NLH.com about Monday’s loss to the Penguins. “But I thought we played a heck of a game on the road against a real good team. It was an emotional letdown to lose the way we did. Really tested our resiliency bouncing back here tonight. That’s what I was happiest about.”
NEXT UP
Dallas heads to the Nation’s Capital on Thursday, December 16 when they take on Ovechkin and the Capitals (15-12-4) starting at 2 p.m. CT time at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Dallas and Washington last met in Dallas on October 27, with the Stars blanking the Caps 2-0.
