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Game Summary

The Devils continued one of the toughest opening schedule stretches of any team in the National Hockey League last night playing host to the Dallas Stars. New Jersey started the season undefeated after three impressive wins against very strong teams in the Edmonton Oilers, Washington Capitals, and San Jose Sharks. Last night would be another tough test against the Dallas Stars who started the season strong and suffered just their second loss of the season the night before.

The game started off just like New Jersey’s previous three games, with Kyle Palmieri’s hot streak continuing by yet again, scoring the game’s first goal. The Devils would tack on two more tallies in the second period off the sticks of Blake Coleman and Jean-Sébastien Dea. Coleman fired a snap shot past Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin, who was screened at the last second. Dea sniped top shelf and took advantage of Khudobin having no stick because it broke along with the Stars’ inability to clear the zone completely.

Miles Wood also stepped up and took on Stars Captain Jamie Benn in a slugfest, which resulted in one of Dallas’ top players being kept off the ice for five minutes in the third period. New Jersey’s play remained the same offensively and defensively en route to a 3-0 victory, and Keith Kinkaid’s second shutout of the season. The Devils are now 4-0-0 for the first time since the 1995-1996, and sit second in the Metropolitan Division, while remaining the only undefeated team in the National Hockey League.

Keys Points of the Game

Kyle Palmieri and Jean-Sébastien Dea continued their hot streaks. Palmieri scored another goal and is now on a four-game scoring streak as he continued to fire pucks at the net and generate offense all night long. Palmieri also set a National Hockey League record per NHL Public Relations tweet by becoming the first player to score his team’s opening goals in four consecutive games to begin a season. Nico Hischier and Taylor Hall also got more chances to score tonight and will eventually break through. Jean-Sébastian Dea has continued his hot start to his Devils career by tallying another goal against the Stars and showing why the Devils claimed him off waivers from Pittsburgh just before the start of the season.

Keith Kinkaid earned his second shutout of the season in the victory last night. Kinkaid got some help from the post on an absolute clap bomb from Tyler Seguin that wrung of the post but most goaltenders will chalk it up to good positioning in the net. Nico Hischier also had a huge block on a shot for a wide open net that kept the shutout in tact for Kinkaid in the final three minutes of the game.

Will Butcher left the game with an injury. Butcher has been one of the Devils’ top defensemen through the first four games, but took a hard hit in the third period from Stars defenseman Roman Polak, while trying to help generate an offensive rush. Butcher was hit into the boards and the principle point of contact with the boards looked like his shoulder. Butcher got up and skated off without a stoppage in play, but was noticeably favoring his arm. Only time will tell if it is a serious long term injury or something less severe. If Butcher misses any time, an opportunity will open for other fellow defensemen like Steven Santini, Eric Gryba, and possibly other’s playing in Binghamton.

Offensive Depth dominated throughout the entire game. Blake Coleman was moved up to the second line after his impressive play on the fourth line to start the season, and Jean-Sébastian Dea continued his hot streak. All four lines generated chances and time in the offensive zone, which is another step in the right direction for the Devils. Depth scoring will come as long as the offense keeps playing like this through all four lines.

The Devils next challenge will come on Thursday October 18 against another strong potential playoff team in the Colorado Avalanche led by Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog who are coming off a shootout loss to the New York Rangers.

Final Score and Stats

Final Score

Devils 3- Stars 0

Shots

Devils 34 – Stars 24

Faceoffs

Devils 27 (44.3%) – Stars 34 (55.7%)

Power Plays

Devils 1 for 6 – Stars 0 for 3

Hits

Devils 15 – Stars 13

Three Stars of the Game

1. Keith Kinkaid – Win and 24 saves in the shutout
2. Kyle Palmieri – 1 Goal, +-0, Game Winning Goal
3. Blake Coleman – 1 Goal, +1