NJD-DAL

DALLAS-- Ben Bishop made 39 saves, and Alexander Radulov had a goal and two assists for the Dallas Stars in a 4-3 win against the New Jersey Devils at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

WATCH: [All Devils vs. Stars highlights]
"The leadership really came from Radulov tonight," Stars center Tyler Seguin said. "His first goal, then a few assists, that blocked shot (in the third period), he led the way and everyone followed."
Seguin scored his first shorthanded goal in the NHL, and Brett Ritchie and Mattias Janmark scored for Dallas (23-16-3).
"It's huge. From here on out we can't let anything slip by because we know how hard it is to get your foot in the door and play in that postseason in the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs," Stars defenseman Marc Methot said. "All these games are going to be so key and you don't want to look back in March and think, oh God, we should have won a couple of more back there."

Cory Schneider made 29 saves for New Jersey (22-11-7), which lost its fourth straight game.
Brian Boyle gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead on the power play with 14 seconds left in the first period when he tipped a pass from Taylor Hall. The goal came 15 seconds after Schneider made a shorthanded breakaway save on Tyler Pitlick.
Radulov tied it 1-1 at 6:18 of the second period after Devils defenseman Andy Greene made an errant pass to the Stars forward in front of the net.
"I was trying to make a play there," Green said. "I thought I saw we had a guy in front there. Obviously we didn't and they made us pay. It was kind of the theme of the night."
Ritchie gave Dallas a 2-1 lead at 11:07 of the second on the power play when he tipped a point shot by John Klingberg. The goal came after Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen took back-to-back penalties, including interference for playing the puck while his foot was in the penalty box.
"It's too hard to win in this league when you give games away," Devils coach John Hynes said. "That's not the way you want to lose games. It wasn't good enough."
Dallas took a 3-1 lead at 18:11 of the second when Seguin scored on the third chance of a shorthanded 2-on-1 with Jamie Benn for his 20th goal of the season.
"I love being on the [penalty kill], I've felt that extra responsibility since training camp, and since we first talked when [Ken Hitchcock] first got named coach here, he said I was going to get that opportunity," Seguin said. "I love doing it. Happy I got one."
Taylor Hall made it 3-2 with 28 seconds left in the period when his wrist shot rebounded off Bishop and Stars defenseman Greg Pateryn.
Janmark gave Dallas a 4-2 lead at 9:43 of the third period on a rush with Martin Hanzal after Radulov blocked a shot in the defensive zone. Kyle Palmieri scored on the power play at 15:59 to make it 4-3.

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Goal of the game

Janmark's goal at 9:43 of the third period.

Saves of the game

Bishop's saves on Hall with three seconds left in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Seguin's goal at 18:11 of the second period.

They said it

"There's [going to] be ups and downs in the season. The quicker you can nip things in the bud and really turn your game around and start getting points and start feeling good about your game, the better off you're going to be. We played in two tough buildings and against two big teams and we came up short. We have to improve. We have to find a way to win in those games." -- Devils forward Taylor Hall; New Jersey lost at the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in a shootout Tuesday

"That's what happens when the game is at such a high emotional level, this felt like a Game 7 for both teams. When it's that highly emotional and that highly charged and you got two teams that much into it you're going to get great plays and big errors." -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock

Need to know

Devils center Travis Zajac left the game after getting hit in the head by a shot by Palmieri in the third period. … Methot played 15:32 after missing 26 games with a knee injury. … Hanzal played 13:06 after missing three games with a lower-body injury.

What's next

Devils: At the New York Islanders on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG, NHL.TV)
Stars: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; FS-SW, SNW, NHL.TV)