Nick Palmieri's strike gives New Jersey Devils narrow 1-0 victory over Dallas Stars
Johan Hedberg recorded his 17th career shutout, making 19 saves, as the New Jersey Devils managed a 1-0 victory over the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Centre on Tuesday night.
Nick Palmieri scored the only goal of the game for New Jersey, who have won eight consecutive contests and 10 of their last 11 overall. New Jersey are now in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with nine points.
Kari Lehtonen played very well but came up just short in the loss, stopping 22 shots for Dallas, who have dropped five straight games and slumped to 1-8-1 in this month with the setback.
"We keep playing with that type of intensity and that type of commitment, and things will change for us," said Dallas head coach Marc Crawford. "It's always the way it happens."
New Jersey was very energetic offensively in the final session. Travis Zajac almost scored a goal on a power play when he ripped a shot from the right circle early in the period, and Brian Rolston had a good look from the right circle just seven minutes
into the third period.
With seven minutes left to play in the game, Dallas defenseman Alex Goligoski was called for high-sticking and New Jersey pulled Palmieri for an extra attacker. Mark Fayne grabbed the puck at the right point and threw a cross-ice pass to Ilya Kovalchuk,
who ripped a one-timer from above the left circle. His shot deflected off Palmieri through a crowd of players, and sailed into the net past a helpless Lehtonen to seal the win at 1-0.
Palmieri described the goal by saying, "I'm just trying to set a screen in front and look for tips and rebounds. Just one of those games where Kovy broke the stick, and I am in front of the net. I tipped it, and I guess goalie did not see it. So, we will
take it."
Dallas benched Lehtonen in favour of an extra skater on the ice in the last minute, but Hedberg and New Jersey held on for the one-goal victory.
Despite the loss, Stars Right Wing Jamie Langenbrunner praised his team-mates efforts. He said, “It was definitely a little weird (playing against the Devils), but we played a pretty good hockey game. We did what we have to do, but did not bury our chances
and then they had a pretty lucky bounce there at the end.”
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