Stars hold off Devils for 4-3 home win

The Dallas Stars won their fifth game in seven matchups with a tight 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils at the American Airlines Center Thursday night.

This being game number 42 of the 2017-18 season, Ken Hitchcock and the Stars wanted to keep up the success they’ve had at home. Dallas entered the game with a 14-5-1 mark at the AAC but on a one game losing streak after the loss to Columbus on Tuesday.

New Jersey started the scoring with a Brian Boyle (11) wrister with just seconds left on the clock in the 1^st period.

The second period was where Dallas began to come alive.

First, Alexander Radulov tied it up at 1-1 just about six minutes into the period for his 15^th goal of the season.

Then, Brett Richie and Tyler Seguin added a couple more in the second to make it 3-1 in favor of the Stars.

New Jersey added one more right at the end of the period to make it 3-2.

In the third, the two squads traded goals starting with Mattias Janmark off the backhand giving the fore-mentioned Radulov his 20^th assist of the season.

With four minutes left, New Jersey scored to make things a little more interesting. With a 4-3 lead, Dallas then had to hold off an onslaught of seven shots on goal in the final four minutes.

New Jersey had one final shot with less than three seconds remaining but had the wrist-shot from Taylor Hall saved by Ben Bishop before it could beat the buzzer.

The Devils outshot the Stars 42 to 33 but the effort from Bishop in-between the posts, kept Dallas in front with 39 saves from the veteran.

However, Dallas dominated face-offs all night long with a 61-39 split. And the Stars’ front line had a huge night combining for five points (2 G, 3 A).

The Stars remain in sixth place in the conference and just two points behind Nashville for third in the Central Division.

Dallas takes the ice again against Edmonton, Saturday at 2:00pm CT in the final game before an entire week off.

For more Dallas Stars coverage follow the Dallas Sports Fanatic on Twitter at @Dallas_Fanatic and my personal Twitter at @Kyle_Youmans.

Photos courtesy of Michael Lark.