Devils Beat Stars in 3-2 OT Win

The Devils took on the second team in the entire league and beat them in overtime, seemingly effortlessly. Impressive.

First off, I would like to start off by saying HOLY COW, WHAT A GAME.
I was at the game and I’m still having a hard time believing what I saw.
Anyway, here’s your recap.

First period starts and immediately, something is off with the Stars. The Devils come out and they’re keeping up with this whole fast and energetic thing, which is great. I’m a huge fan of watching the Devils play fast, skilled hockey. Its a fresh change from the last few seasons. I’ll admit, I went in to this game feeling very skeptical, and with the unexplained absence of Mike Cammalleri, my feeling had gotten even worse.

But the Stars looked sluggish, they looked like they were lagging. They seemed like they may have been missing something. I’m not sure what was going on, but something was definitely off.
They had quickly given up a sloppy penalty and sent the Devils to the power play. Nothing came of it, but still. Power Play.

The first period ended scoreless with the Devils leading the Stars with shots on goal, 9-8.

The second period started and there was an odd energy. The Devils were continuing to out-skate and out-play the Stars, which I’m still having such a hard time comprehending. A minute into the period, Kyle Palmieri opens the scoring for the Devils with a beautiful backhander.
Five minutes later, Mr. Wild Thing, Bobby Farnham fired one past Niemi to give the Devils a two goal lead.
Stars led with shots on goal at the end of the period with 19-18, but the Devils led in goals scored with 2-0.

Third period starts. The Devils lost a tiny bit of their speed, but not enough to make too much of a difference. Or so I thought. The Stars managed to do what they do best, and make a grand come back in the middle of the third period. Both Patrick Sharp and Colton Sceviour contributed goals to Dallas’ win efforts, forcing a tie-game.

With no lack of trying, the Devils couldn’t come back from the two Dallas goals and the game went into overtime.

Let me start the OT recap off by saying that the Devils went into this game 5 and 1 with OT wins. Just a little fun stat for you.

The five minute OT period starts and almost immediately, Dallas captain, Mr. 2015 Art Ross himself Jamie Benn decides to hook Travis Zajac and gets sent to the box. Without the younger Benn, the Stars looked completely lost in the 4 on 3 overtime. With nearly two minutes left in the OT, John Moore slaps one in past Niemi and wins it for the Devils.

Now, the Devils went into this game initially planning on scratching Tyler Kennedy, Eric Gelinas and Tuomo Ruutu, but ended up having to scratch Mike Cammalleri due to what we have now learned was an upper-body injury. The Devils put Tyler Kennedy in to play in Cammy’s place. Cammalleri’s condition is listed as day-to-day, according to the Devils.

I don’t mean to sound rude, but the Devils have been without center Jacob Josefson (lower body injury) for three games, and they’re now on a three game win-streak… So… just another fun little stat for you guys.

Anyway, the Dallas Stars went into this game the way that many, many other teams have seemed to come into games in which they played the Devils this season: Thinking that it was an auto-win. They went in with a cocky attitude, thinking that they wouldn’t have to work too hard and that this would be an easy win, and then they found themselves in the third period, down by a two goal deficit and they needed to figure out a quick way to win, only to have the Devils beat them in OT anyway.

I’m starting to wonder if the other teams will ever stop thinking that they can just pull the wool down over the Devils eyes and just win games. The Devils are a force to be reckoned with, and I truly believe that the wins aren’t going to stop anytime soon.

So, I have a quick side story for you guys:
On our way home from the Prudential Center, my girlfriend was driving and pulled up at the first stoplight on the street in front of the arena. In the lane next to us, was a very nice SUV with a man in a suit driving. We couldn’t place who it was, but the three of us in our car knew that we knew the guy driving. He made eye contact with my girlfriend and nodded, initiating a race from the stoplight. My girlfriend is never one to back down from a challenge, she accepted.*
She smokes the guy. We look over at him at the second stoplight, only to realize that we had just street raced the Albany Devil that the New Jersey Devils had just called up, Mike Sislo. True story.

*Neither me nor Pucks and Pitchforks condones street racing. Mike Sislo on the other hand, well, I can’t speak for him… Drive safely, kids.