Tuesday, the Devils beat the Dallas Stars, 6-4, on the road. A season-high four first period goals propelled the Devils to another win coming out of the Olympic break. The victory has New Jersey at 36-32-2 on the season.
Recap
Period One
The Devils had an opposite start to this game than most others. They were on the back foot, surrendering the first four shots on goal, including multiple high-danger ones. However, a few minutes in, Jack Hughes finally got the Devils first shot and he put it in the back of the net.
Then, in the span of a few minutes there was a massive scoring burst. First, Wyatt Johnston evened the score for Dallas on a four-on-four with a nice wrist shot past Jake Allen. Then, still on the four-on-four, Jesper Bratt scored a gorgeous goal to put New Jersey back in front.
After that, Connor Brown cut in on goal and fired a perfectly placed shot near-side high to make it 3-1. Finally, in the final minutes of the first period, Luke Hughes sprung Jack Hughes on a breakaway where Jack made easy work of Jake Oettinger to put New Jersey up 4-1.
Period Two
Casey DeSmith came in to replace Oettinger after allowing four goals in the first period. Better goaltending allowed Dallas to cut the lead down to one in the second period with one early goal and one late one.
The early goal came on the power play off the stick of Wyatt Johnston, his second of the game and 40th of the season. The late goal was a sharp-angle shot from Jason Robertson who buried his 39th of the year to make it 4-3. The Devils were able to hold on and take a one-goal lead into the third period.
Period Three
The Stars had a strong push to start the third period, but it was halted by a Timo Meier goal. After Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer failed to score on two great chances, Meier sniped a turn-around wrister near-side high over the shoulder of DeSmith to make it 5-3. The Stars were able to get one back off a tap-in from Maverick Bourque to cut the lead to 5-4, but that was it. Dougie Hamilton sent the puck the length of the ice into the empty net to seal the deal. New Jersey won 6-4 on the road.
Game Notes
Six-Goal Outbursts
Before the Devils 6-3 win against the Rangers on March 16, they had not scored that many goals in a game since November of 2024. Tuesday night’s win marked the Devils fourth six-goal outing in just over two weeks. A massive change from what had been a mostly dormant Devils offense over the past calendar year-plus.
From January 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026, the Devils ranked last in goals per 60 minutes (G/60) with an abysmal 2.44. Since March 1, the Devils are first in G/60 at 4.03 over 10 games. New Jersey is 7-3-0 over that stretch.
Massive March
Outside of the goal department, the Devils have been much better in March. Through February, the Devils were on average, being outdone in the expected goal (xG) department 3.18 to 3.17 for the 17th-best all strengths expected goals percentage (xG%) in the league. Since then, they are, on average, beating their opponents with an xG of 3.92 to 2.81 for the third-best all strength xG% in the NHL.
What’s Next
The Devils road trip continues Thursday against the Nashville Predators at 8:00 pm ET.