Stars beat Devils in overtime
NEWARK, N.J. -- On Saturday night, the New Jersey Devils were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with a home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Less than 24 hours later, the Dallas Stars avoided the same fate, rallying for a 2-1 overtime victory over the Devils at the Prudential Center on Sunday.
With Dallas trailing 1-0 late in the third period, Ales Hemsky put a power-play rebound past Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid to pull Dallas even with 6:36 remaining in regulation, ultimately forcing overtime.
Dallas then won it with another power-play goal, just 20 seconds into overtime, on Tyler Seguin's 25th of the season, a right-wing tracer.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 20 shots for the Stars (31-33-11).
A pair of unheralded players helped lead the Devils (27-35-13). Rookie Blake Coleman scored the first NHL goal of his career, and Kinkaid, the club's backup goaltender, excelled with 30 saves.
Coleman's unassisted goal came at the 11:02 mark of the first period. He stole the puck inside the Stars' blue line from defenseman John Klingberg, drove hard to the net, and roofed the puck under the cross bar from in close to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.
To make his first NHL goal more special, Coleman is a Texas native.
NOTES: Devils D Andy Greene played in his 700th career NHL game. ... New Jersey dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen as LW Joseph Blandisi missed the contest due to an illness. ... The Devils also scratched LW Michael Cammalleri (upper body), C Jacob Josefson (upper body), and RW Devante Smith-Pelly (lower body). ... Stars D Dan Hamhuis returned to the lineup after missing the previous game against San Jose with a lower body injury. ... The Stars scratched LW Patrick Sharp (hip), RW Jiri Hudler (lower body), LW Antoine Roussel (upper body) and D Patrik Nemeth.