Moore’s OT Goal Lifts Devils Past NHL’s Best Stars 3-2

Lee Stempniak of the Devils fights for the puck against John Klingberg of the Stars. Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images

EAST HANOVER, NJ – John Moore scored with 3:13 remaining in overtime when he blasted a slap-shot past the glove of goaltender Antti Niemi on the power-play as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Saturday night at the Prudential Center.

The Devils (20-14-5) now have a three-game winning streak for the first time since the latter part of October and survived after giving up a two goal lead to the Stars (28-8-4), who currently have the most points in the entire league.

“It was some resilient puck pursuit by our forwards,” Moore told NHL.com of his overtime tally. “On that whole shift, the puck seemed to be bouncing around and it took a fortunate bounce in the slot and I put as much on that as I could. It knuckled pretty good and found its way into the back of the net.”

“We’re well prepared for [overtime] and we know exactly what we want to do,” Devils goalie Corey Schneider added. “When you have the 4-on-3 in overtime, you have to find a way to bury it. It’s a credit to the guys out there who are executing.”

New Jersey executed to a tee against a relentless Stars defense, outshooting the opposition 9-8 after the first period of play. They finally broke through early in the second when Kyle Palmieri buried a wraparound try, after David Schlemko kept the puck inside the blue line and fired it deep in the zone.

A few minutes later, New Jersey added to it’s 1-0 lead. Jordin Tootoo did some nice work on the forecheck and then fed Bobby Farnham in the right slot. He ripped a shot past Niemi and the Devils had a seemingly comfortable two goal edge.

“We’re real proud that we can raise our level to compete with the top teams in the League and going forward we have to keep getting those consistent efforts,” Palmieri said. “I think earlier this week we were struggling to figure out why we hadn’t won two in a row in a while, and now we’ve won three. Hopefully we can keep it rolling in that direction.”

Schneider did a solid job against the talented forwards of the Stars. He made a nice glove stop on Patrick Sharp early in the first on the man advantage and then again robbed him on a streaking pass toward the cage in the second.

Sharp would not be denied on his third golden opportunity as he gathered a rebound near the right side of the net before burying it into the 6×4 opening.

The Stars would tie the game less than four minutes later when Colton Sceviour ripped a shot from just inside the zone that Schneider seemed to have trouble seeing before the puck got past him.

From there on, Schneider and the Devils defense did not allow a quality scoring chance from the Stars. They gave up no shots in the extra frame while firing four of their own, including Moore’s game winner.

Mike Cammalleri, who leads the Devils in points with 35 (14 goals, 21 assists), did not play on Saturday night due to an upper body injury. The team learned of the news right before warmups.

“It’s a big hole to fill with the type of player [Cammalleri] is,” Devils center Travis Zajac said. “He does a lot on the power play and 5-on-5. I thought collectively, we filled the void, and everyone stepped up their game.”

New Jersey did not allow Dallas to score on the power-play; holding them to 0-3 on the man advantage.

The Devils will look to match their longest winning streak of the season at four in a row when they play host to the Detroit Red Wings (19-13-7) on Monday at 7 p.m.