Dallas, TX (Sports Network) – Johan Hedberg stopped all 19 shots he faced for his 17th career shutout, as the streaking New Jersey Devils blanked the Dallas Stars, 1-0, at American Airlines Center.
Nick Palmieri tallied the game’s lone goal with five-plus minutes to play in regulation for the Devils, who have won eight straight and 10 of their last 11 games overall.
New Jersey was left for dead after an awful start to the season but continued its climb toward what would be an incredible comeback if a playoff berth is reached. The Devils now sit nine points behind Carolina for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference.
Kari Lehtonen made 22 saves for the Stars, who are going in the opposite direction. Dallas had a surprisingly strong first half of the campaign, but has fallen on hard times of late and with this setback dropped to 1-8-1 in the month of February.
This was the fifth straight loss for the Stars, who are hovering around the eighth playoff seed in the Western Conference after they’d led the Pacific Division for several months.