Jack Hughes scored his second goal of the game 20 seconds into overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 road victory over the Dallas Stars on Friday.
The Devils trailed 2-0 after the first period, but Hughes and Miles Wood quickly equalized within the first four minutes of the second frame. That concluded the scoring in regulation time, setting up Hughes for his fifth game-winning tally of the season.
Hughes has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) over the course of an eight-game points streak.
Vitek Vanecek stopped 33 of 35 shots. Vanecek is a perfect 9-0-0 in his last nine starts, joining Martin Brodeur as the only Devils’ goaltenders with a winning streak of nine or more games in franchise history.
Dougie Hamilton had two assists for the Devils defenseman’s fourth consecutive multi-point game.
New Jersey is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games, with five of those victories coming in overtime or shootouts.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Stars have lost three consecutive games in overtime, all by a 3-2 score on home ice. Dallas is only 4-9 in non-regulation games this season.
Ty Dellandrea and Roope Hintz scored for the Stars during a dominant first period that saw Dallas outshoot New Jersey by a 13-5 margin.
Dellandrea caught a break when his shot from behind the back line deflected off the skate of New Jersey forward Erik Haula and into the net, giving Dellandrea the opening goal 10:50 into the game.
The Devils then ran into penalty trouble, giving the Stars a 5-on-3 power play late in the period. The two-man advantage led to Hintz blasting a one-timer from the circle for his 20th goal of the season and the 100th goal of his NHL career.
After New Jersey equalized in the second period, the Stars continued the pressure but Vanecek was up to the task. Vanecek made a pair of highlight-reel saves in denying Joe Pavelski on a breakaway midway through the period, and then stopping Jamie Benn on another strong scoring chance at the 13:16 mark.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 26 of 29 shots.
–Field Level Media
