New Jersey Devils 4, Dallas Stars 2

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur spotted the Dallas Stars a 2-0 lead in the first period. Then he shut the door the rest of the way, allowing his teammates rally for a 4-2 win at the Prudential Center in Newark that ended the Stars' winning streak at six games.

"We've been finding way to win," said Stars center Stu Barnes. "We have won games where it wasn't the perfect formula but we found ways to win. Good teams do that. If we want to be a good team, we have to find that little extra bounce here or there or blocked shot here or there. We didn't get it done tonight."

Barnes and Jussi Jokinen scored the goals for the Stars, who missed a chance to tie the franchise mark of seven straight wins and also saw an eight-game points streak come to an end. Marty Turco made 22 saves on 25 shots.

"It wasn't our best effort, but we had a chance," Turco said.

Brodeur ended up with 19 saves for the Devils, who won their fifth straight game and improved to 12-10-2 on the season.

It was a not a stellar first 20 minutes for Brodeur, who was honored before the game for his 500th career win. He almost got beat when Mike Ribeiro lofted a puck in on net with a backhand shot from the neutral zone early in the period. He caught a break a short time later when Ribeiro had an open side of the net, but had his shot hit the post and go wide.

The Stars took the lead when New Jersey went on its first power play. After the Stars won a defensive zone draw, Barnes skated down the right wing and beat Brodeur from a sharp angle at the 10:42 mark.

Just under three minutes later, Jokinen stole the puck in the New Jersey zone and put a shot on net from the left circle that Brodeur reached down to try to stop with his glove, but missed. It was now 2-0 just 13:40 into the game.

"The first period was not an indication of how we played," Brodeur said. "They got two bad-in goals on me. We definitely looked good after that. We didn't let that affect our game."

Brodeur bounced back strong in the second, making 10 saves on 10 shots and setting the stage for the Devils to climb back into the game.

New Jersey made it a 2-1 game at 8:52 of the second when David Clarkson won a puck battle along the boards and then beat Turco with a wrap-around shot.

Brodeur came up big late in the second when he made four saves, including three stops on hard shots Mike Modano, during a Stars five-on-three power play that lasted for 1:37.

"That was huge," New Jersey center John Madden said. "They were getting some shots, but Marty was able to see them."

The Stars ended up missing a big chance to extend the lead.

"If we scored, it's a different game," Stars center Mike Ribeiro said. "After the 5-on-3 they came back and scored and took the momentum. That's the game."

The Devils tied it at 18:48, less than 90 seconds after the big five-on-three penalty kill, when Jamie Langenbrunner chipped a puck into the Dallas zone that was retrieved by Patrik Elias, whose centering pass was knocked home by Brian Gionta.

Brodeur came up big again in the third while the Stars were on a power play, making a nifty poke-check stop on a breakaway chance by Niklas Hagman.

The Devils took the lead for good midway through the third period. After Modano missed Jokinen on a pass in the New Jersey zone, the Devils headed the other direction on an odd-man rush and Dainius Zubrus finished off a nice pass from Langenbrunner at 10:57.

Zach Parise scored into an empty net at 19:43 to round out the scoring.

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