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 "Playing them is like crawling through a barbed-wire fence with a
wool jacket on," he said.
On Thursday night at the Prudential Center, the Stars' wool jacket
got caught on the barbed-wire fence.
Michael Ryder scored the game's only goal and goaltender Cory
Schneider made 26 saves as the Devils smothered the Stars in a 1-0
victory that snapped a three-game winning streak.
Schneider only had to make a handful of tough saves to post his
third shutout of the season. He turned aside a flurry of chances
during a Dallas four-minute power play late in the second period and
stopped a chance from center Tyler Seguin with 3:20 remaining in the
third period, but otherwise had an easy night.
The Devils haven't offered much support in Schneider's starts this
season. They have scored 32 goals in his 20 appearances.
"He's a great goalie and we've got to work on getting some more
goals," Devils left winger Dainius Zubrus said. "But we'll take the
win and try to get the next one."
The Devils were coming off a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on
Tuesday in which they blew a 1-0 they carried into the third period.
The same scenario played out against the Stars, but this time they
held on for a much-needed victory.
"Obviously, we want to score goals," Devils captain Bryce Salvador
said. "But I think what's important is we have to learn how to win
these games like tonight where it's 1-0.
"There's a lot of focus on scoring goals, but I think the last few
games, we've scored enough to win, we've played well enough to win.
It's important we keep strong enough defensively and learn to win by
one goal."
Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen was on top of his game, making 33
saves to give his team repeated opportunities to tie the score. His
only mistake wasn't even a mistake as an uncovered Ryder beat him
from the slot at 8:17 on a shot he had little chance to stop.
It was Ryder's 15th goal of the season, and it was set up by a
perfect pass from behind the net by center Travis Zajac.
"I just try to find those areas where you can get a pass," Ryder
said. "I found it and Trav made a great pass to me and I managed to
put it in."
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The Stars have dropped four straight and entered Thursday
having been outscored 18-8 in their previous three games. They
delivered a low-scoring game with the Devils, but it was more
about Lehtonen's play than what was happening in front of him.
"I thought we were better, but I thought our goalie was the
reason the score was what it was," Seguin said. "We didn't make
good plays. We gave them a lot of chances. The second period
wasn't very good at all, some bad turnovers, including myself.
We need to find more 60-minute desperation in here and maybe a
little bit more accountability."
The Stars will conclude a three-game road trip on Friday when
they face the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
"We just have to stop thinking as a group," Stars captain Jamie
Benn said. "We're going to make mistakes, it's part of the game,
but we have to go out there, stick together, get a little bit
more out of everyone and find a way to win."
It was just another low-scoring day at the office for Schneider,
who was up to the challenge of facing a hot goaltender with the
thinnest margin of error possible.
"Their goalie made some saves and that means our goalie, me, has
to make some saves," Schneider said. "We played really well and
I thought we carried it in their end and that always makes it
easier when you're not running around your zone trying to win a
1-0 game. As a group, I thought we played really hard and
deserved this one."
NOTES: The Stars have attempted six penalty shots this season,
one shy of the NHL record of seven. ... The Stars scratched LW
Antoine Roussel and D Aaron Rome. Roussel was a healthy scratch
and Rome has an upper-body injury. ... The Devils dressed seven
defensemen, inserting D Eric Gelinas into the lineup after he
missed two games. He spent a brief time at Albany of the AHL and
was a healthy scratch in the Devils' previous game against the
Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. ... Devils C Patrik Elias (upper
body) missed his fourth straight game.
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