Palmieri, Kinkaid help Devils remain undefeated in win against Stars

NEWARK, N.J. -- Kyle Palmieri extended his goal-scoring streak to four games and Keith Kinkaid made 24 saves to help the New Jersey Devils to a 3-0 win against the Dallas Stars at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

Forwards Blake Coleman and Jean-Sebastien Dea also scored for the Devils (4-0-0), who have opened a season with four straight wins for the fourth time in their history and first since 1995-96.
Palmieri became the first player in NHL history to score his team's opening goal in four consecutive games to begin a season when he scored a power-play goal at 3:42 of the first period. Defenseman Will Butcher slid the puck into the left face-off circle, where Palmieri scored his seventh of the season to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.
"It's nice to get rewarded for putting pucks on net, but it's fun to come to the rink right now," Palmieri said. "The team is in a good mood, we're happy with the way we're playing and beating some really good teams. Hopefully we keep that going."

Kinkaid's shutout was the sixth of his NHL career and second in three games. He made 21 saves in a 6-0 win against the Washington Capitals on Oct. 11. He is 4-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and .961 save percentage.
"I've been seeing the puck]*
Coleman and Dea scored in the second period to give the Devils a 3-0 lead. Coleman scored his first of the season off a snap shot from the right face-off circle at 2:03 for a 2-0 lead.
Dea's goal was scored unassisted at 16:19 when his wrist shot from the left face-off circle beat Khudobin, who was without his stick. Khudobin, who had his stick snap after a save against Devils forward Miles Wood on a wraparound at 15:03, could not get the attention of his bench to bring a new stick before Dea stole the puck in the Stars end.
"That's not good body language by me; that's frustration," Khudobin said. "That's a bad habit. Other than that, I was just asking for the stick because the rules are they can bring me the stick. With stick or without stick, I have to be prepared to stop the puck."
Dea, claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sept. 28, has scored three goals in his past three games.
"It's nice to get picked up by a team that likes what you bring," Dea said. "Coach John Hynes likes a guy who can bring energy and can skate. I'm working hard and enjoying every moment. I think when you do that, good things will happen. I've been working my whole life to be where I am today, so I'm grateful to be here and have a chance to play in the NHL."

They said it

"We have to be five guys in the picture, whether on forecheck, or rush defense, or in the defensive zone. We're just not connected. You don't see the five guys together. That's what we are missing now. We can't sustain offense or get the puck out quickly because we are not together." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery
"There are some things we still need to clean up. We have a quote in our locker room, 'Results may vary, but the process doesn't change,' and that's something we have to understand. We need to continue to build our game and get better. We can be better and, most importantly, there are certain individuals on our team that can be better and who we need to get more out of. We'll come back to work, not satisfied, on Thursday." -- Devils coach John Hynes

Need to know

Stars center Jason Spezza went 7-for-10 on face-offs. ... Hynes had no update on Butcher, who left the game after taking a hit from Stars defenseman Roman Polak 6:55 into the third period. ... Palmieri is the third player to score a power-play goal in each of his team's first four games in a season since the NHL officially began tracking the statistic in 1933-34, joining Dino Ciccarelli of the Minnesota North Stars in 1986-87 (five games played) and Bronco Horvath of the Boston Bruins in 1959-60 (four games).

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What's next

Stars: Host the Minnesota Wild on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Devils: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, ALT, NHL.TV)