NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Evgenii Dadonov and defenseman Thomas Harley scored first-period goals and Casey DeSmith made 31 saves as the Dallas Stars defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Saturday night.
Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston also scored for Dallas in the teams' first game after the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament break.
Jack Hughes scored twice for New Jersey. Jesper Bratt and Dougie Hamilton assisted on both goals.
Dadonov opened the scoring at 3:58 of the first with his 16th goal. Harley made it 2-0, beating Devils goaltender Jake Allen at 5:44 with his 10th goal of the season on a power play. Harley leads all Stars defensemen with 30 points.
Hughes ended DeSmith’s shutout bid with a power-play goal at the 10-minute mark of the third before Duchene restored the Stars’ two-goal margin 35 seconds later with his 23rd of the season.
Hughes scored his team-leading 26th of the season at 11:40 to make it 3-2.
Johnston scored into an empty net at 19:50.
Allen made 22 saves in defeat.
Takeaways
Devils: New Jersey fell to 15-10-4 at home and is 2-4-1 in its last seven home games. The Devils play their next five games on the road - including a visit to Dallas on March 4.
Stars: Dallas improved its road record to 16-11-1.
Key moment
Dadonov’s opening goal established momentum for the Stars, who are second in the Central Division with 74 points.
Key stat
Smith improved to 10-6-0. The veteran netminder joined Dallas as a free agent in July, backing up Jake Oettinger. His best save was point-blank stop on Bratt with just under nine minutes left in the third.
Up next
Both teams play Sunday. New Jersey is at Nashville, and Dallas is at the New York Islanders.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Allan Kreda, The Associated Press