Devils Extinguish Stars in Dallas | GAME STORY

DALLAS - The Connor Hellebuyck era in New Jersey is off and running.

Making his Devils debut Tuesday night, Hellebuyck faced 17 shots and gave up a single goal as New Jersey dismantled the red-hot Stars, 5-1, snapping Dallas’ five-game winning streak and extending their own win streak to four games.

"I thought the guys in front of me just played a perfect game for me to get acclimated," Hellebuyck said. "Low amount of shots, blocking everything, keep everything to the outside, let me see things, let me touch the puck a lot. I got to work through a little bit of rust, but I thought it was just a perfect game top to bottom."

"It was obviously great," Nico Hischier said of Hellebuyck in net, "He just spreads this calmness out. He's a very calm goalie, and he made some big saves in the game and in certain situation where could maybe turn a little bit the momentum to their side. Great to have him."

Hischier scored twice, and Jesper Boqvist and Luke Hughes each added a goal. The Devils have won four straight and six of their last seven.

"It's been tremendous," head coach Sheldon Keefe said of the Devils defensive buy-ins. "A lot of great offense comes from that as well. That's where I think the buy-in comes, is guys want to score, they want to produce. We got a lot of guys who have the ability to and expect to produce on offense. So we're just trying to get them to understand that that's the ticket, that's the way to do it. And if we can accomplish both things, check, protect our net, and generate offense the other way."

New Jersey wasted no time in this game. Hischier opened the scoring before the game was three minutes old, then made it 2-0 just minutes into the second period. Boqvist stretched the lead to 3-0 before Justin Hryckowian finally got one past Hellebuyck for the Stars’ lone goal.

Dallas’ hopes of a comeback didn’t last long. Just 28 seconds later, Hughes restored the three-goal cushion with his fourth goal of the year.

And just for good measure, Jack Hughes added the Devils fifth goal of the game in the third period for his fourth goal on the year.

Here are some observations from the game:

• The Devils 22 shots after two periods against the Stars was the most shots conceded by the Stars this season after two periods. In fact, they have been averaging giving up just 21 shots per game to its opponents this season as one of the hottest teams in the league. 

• There’s something about the Dallas Stars bringing out the best in Nico Hischier, his two-goal effort brought his career totals to 14 points in 17 games against the Stars, equally cont5ibuting goals and assists with seven a piece. 

• Jesper Boqvist has fit in seamlessly in his second go-around with the Devils. Boqvist scored his fourth goal of the season, hopping off the bench on a change and jumping into the play in the offensive zone, and whipping a wrist shot into the far corner behind Casey DeSmith. 

The goal was his 4th of the season, in his 10th game of the year. His four goals equals his season total last season with the Panthers, in 73 games. 

• Timo Meier won’t be credited with an assist on Nico Hischier’s opening goal, but the play doesn’t happen without his smarts and quick feet. Johnny Kovacevic sent the outlet pass to Luke Evangelista, who kept the play moving up ice and got the puck to Hischier. Meanwhile, Meier was driving hard to the net, which bought Hischier time and space to make his move. That drive pulled the Dallas defender off the passing lane, and as Meier kept going, Hischier was able to take his time and ripped the opening goal past Casey DeSmith in the Dallas net.

"If you look what Timo did," Hischier explained, "he sprinted through, which is always very hard for the goalie, for the defender, and that made that sprint open up the option for me to cut in the middle. 

"And then big part is, he stops in front of the net too, so I can take it a little bit further and have pretty much an empty net," Hischier added. "So, that was a big part from him that I was able to score that goal."

Just as notable was Meier’s awareness to lift his skate out of the blue paint, avoiding any interference with Casey DeSmith in the Stars’ net.

• There went a couple more chiclets for Jack Hughes. Midway through the first period, Jack was caught by an errant high-stick from Justin Hryckowian, after Jesper Bratt squared up the Dallas forward on a hit. Hryckowian’s stick caught Hughes in the face, sending Jack to the dressing room for repairs. 

Thankfully, it was just a quick repair and all that was lost were a few of Jack’s teeth. Hughes emerged from the locker room to start the second period with a full face sheild attached to his helmet. 

• After Brenden Dillon laid a boistrous hit on Nils Lundqivst in the second period, Dallas captain Jamie Benn engaged in a fight with Dillon. Dillon was called for 5-minutes for fighting, while Benn was assessed two minutes of instigating, five minutes for fighting and a 10 minute misconduct. 

• Anthony Mantha played his 600th NHL game.