Five straight victories could not carry the Dallas Stars through Tuesday’s 5-1 defeat to New Jersey. The loss was broad enough to require an honest correction, though still too isolated to justify treating a 7-4-1 start as a mirage.
The Devils won four consecutive games and six of their last seven to reach 8-4-0. Dallas, playing at American Airlines Center, finished with only 18 shots on goal while New Jersey had 27. The larger warning sat in the attempt totals: 60 for the Devils, 38 for the Stars. That is how a game can feel settled long before the scoreboard becomes final.
New Jersey’s control was most obvious in the second period. The Devils sent 15 shots on goal toward Casey DeSmith; Dallas managed four against Connor Hellebuyck. New Jersey scored three times in the period, expanding a 1-0 intermission lead to 4-1.
Dallas did not lose because of one bad bounce or one spectacular goaltending performance. It lost the middle of the game, where possession, pressure and repeat opportunities usually decide whether a deficit remains manageable.
Nico Hischier supplied the first two dents. In the opening period, he finished a 2-on-1 involving Timo Meier after working around Lian Bichsel and waiting out DeSmith from the lower-left circle. Hischier struck again 38 seconds into the second, taking Meier’s drop pass and scoring from the top-left circle.
The Stars’ unsuccessful interference challenge on the first goal also produced a two-minute delay-of-game penalty, but it did not become the main explanation for what followed.
Jesper Boqvist made it 3-0 at 11:45 of the second with a wrist shot set up by Jack Hughes’ no-look pass. Dallas did find one constructive answer. At 16:08, Justin Hryckowian redirected Tyler Myers’ point shot past Hellebuyck, cutting the margin to two.
Hryckowian had one shot, three blocked shots and 14:56 of ice time, an efficient contribution from a depth player who scored for the second time this season and in his second consecutive game.
The response simply had no time to grow. Luke Hughes scored 28 seconds later, restoring New Jersey’s three-goal cushion. Jack Hughes added the Devils’ fifth with 6:45 remaining in the final period.
Dallas generated eight shots on goal in that final frame, twice its second-period total, but late activity could not repair the stretch in which the game escaped. More importantly, the Devils scored all five goals at even strength.
Dallas’s penalty kill deserves to remain in the accounting. The Stars erased all three New Jersey power plays, and the Devils never scored with a man advantage. Dallas did not receive a power play, either, so its special-teams units had no chance to manufacture a response. Killing every penalty prevented a worse night; it did not address the five-on-five gap that produced the result.
