Stars Lose In OT
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DALLAS — Sometimes being in the right place at the right time is enough to win. That’s exactly how it was for New Jersey Devils left winger Patrik Elias, who scored the game-winner 40 seconds into overtime of a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars on Thursday at American Airlines Center.
“It’s a little bit different obviously with the rules right now (in overtime),” Elias said. “Honestly, you get a lot more opportunities. It’s 4-on-4. It’s a better chance to score than what it used to be. But it has been a while (since my last OT goal).”
Elias’ power-play goal came off a rebound after Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen turned back an attempted tip-in by Devils center Travis Zajac two seconds earlier. New Jersey (23-21-11), who limited Dallas to just 16 shots, was on the power play after Stars center and captain Jamie Benn was called for tripping Elias near center ice 28 seconds into the extra frame.
After the Devils led for 48:09, Dallas forced overtime when center Tyler Seguin scored his 24th of the season to make it 2-2 with 52 seconds remaining as the Stars had the extra attacker.
Goaltender Cory Schneider stopped 14 shots for the Devils, his 11th straight game to allow four or fewer goals.
“I thought we played about as good a road game as we could play,” New Jersey
head coach Peter DeBoer said. “The gameplan held them to 12 or 14 shots or whatever it ended up being. (We were) a little unlucky there at the end. 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.”
Elias’ goal was the Devils’ second on the power play of the game. New Jersey also got a power-play goal from Zajac in the second period.
Zajac’s goal, his ninth, came at 9:50 of the second when he redirected a blast from near the Stars blue line by right winger Damien Brunner. Zajac’s deflection from the slot sailed in over the glove of Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen.
The Devils were on the power play after Dallas left winger Ryan Garbutt was called for interference at 8:49.
Dallas (24-21-9) had cut it to 2-1 when Benn scored on a backhand 1:02 after Zajac’s power-play goal.
The Stars, who finished their two game homestand at 2-2-1, had a two-man advantage for 1:15 in the opening period after New Jersey defenseman Mark Fayne was called for holding at 4:30 and defenseman Anton Volchenkov was whistled for an illegal check to the head of Stars center Tyler Seguin 45 seconds later at 5:15. However, Dallas was unable to convert during the 5-on-3.
“Well, yeah (that kill was) huge, especially considering the penalty that was called,” DeBoer said. “I think it would have been easy there to lose our focus. We didn’t. We buckled down. To get out of the first period up was key.”
Dallas had just four shots in the first period and six in the second for 10 after 40 minutes of play.
“I thought we were awful,” Stars head coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought we came out flat. We lost a lot of the battles and got out-skated. You don’t win many games like that.”
New Jersey took the game’s first lead when right winger Dainius Zubrus sent a one-timer past Lehtonen’s short side at 10:59 of the opening period. Zubrus’ goal, his 10th, was set up by a pass from right winger Jaromir Jagr in the slot. All Zubrus had to do was finish with a wrister that traveled over Lehtonen’s glove.
Lehtonen, who stopped 21 shots for Dallas, left the ice with 1:39 remaining as the game finished in a 4-on-4 situation after Benn (diving) and Jagr (hooking) were called for penalties at 18:21 of the third.
