Game Recap: Stars Close Out Four-Game Sweep With Dominant Victory Over Devils

While it may only last a few hours, the Dallas Stars end their road trip sitting in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference after a dominant 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

It did not take long for this game to get rolling as Joe Pavelski scored his first of the game from the slot just 14 seconds into the first period. This has become somewhat of a tradition for the Stars’ top line after they broke an NHL record for scoring early goals earlier in the season.

“They are just taking advantage of the opportunities that they have been given,” Rick Bowness said. “This is a game that we wanted to start off with a strong forecheck. They have scored goals off of faceoffs, they scored goals off the rush, they just find ways to score goals. They take pride in going out there early and setting the tone for the team, they take great pride in that. I always try to get them out there on the first or second shift because I know they want to set the tone for the team.”

Dallas certainly had their legs going early. They knew they needed to get off to a good start as their energy may fade later in the game, and they did exactly that.

For the second straight game, Alexander Radulov took a puck behind the net and slid a nice backhand pass out to rookie Jacob Peterson, who tucked a backhand inside the post to give the Stars a 2-0 lead. The goal marked the first time in Peterson’s young career that he has scored in back-to-back games and brought him up to eight on the season (5th on the team).

Pavelski was not done yet in the first period either, as he tipped in a Miro Heiskanen point shot at the 16:48 mark of the frame to give Dallas a commanding 3-0 lead at intermission.

With the second period, came a new goalie in the pipes for New Jersey, as John Gillies replaced Akira Schmid, who allowed three goals on only 7 shots.

Unfortunately for the Devils, the change did not affect the game, as Roope Hintz ripped a wrist shot past the glove of Gillies just 15 seconds into the period to all but put the game away for Dallas.

The top line racked up nine total points just seconds into the second period and Pavelski added an assist on the late empty-net goal from Jani Hakanpaa, finishing with four points in the game. Dating back to Dec. 17, Pavelski has recorded 27 points in the last 14 games.

“His consistency,” Bowness said when asked about what impresses him most about Pavelski. “What you see tonight, you’re seeing pretty much every game. Again, I keep telling people that this is not a fluke. He works at it. He is always the first guy out there on the ice working it around the net. He works very hard, he is a true pro, great character, and a great teammate.”

The rest of the contest was largely spent in the Dallas zone and understandably so. The Stars looked to run out of gas a bit and were happy just defending well and chipping pucks out. It helped that they received a stellar performance from Braden Holtby, who stopped 36 of 37 shots and was in control all game long.

“He was really good,” Pavelski said. “He made that amazing save there at the end when the score is still 4-1 and that definitely keeps a little extra breathing room there. The biggest thing tonight--you saw he was calm, there weren’t many rebounds, the pucks that were hitting his chest he was handling well. When you get that kind of control out of your goalie, it definitely goes a long way.”

Throughout this four-game road trip across the east coast, each game was vastly different, but the result was always the same. Dallas finished the trip with a perfect 4-0-0 record, scoring 18 goals in the process.

“The guys dug in tonight,” Bowness said. “Listen, they all wanted to come home 4-0. We were all disappointed with our last home game against Montreal but it didn’t affect us on the road trip. Back-to-back games are tough and we found a way to win tonight, we found a way to win in Detroit, and we gotta keep finding a way to win now at home. This has been an awesome road trip.”

The Stars now return home where they will play their next six games beginning on Friday night against the Washington Capitals.