DALLAS _ The more distressing deficiencies in the Devils' game of late were in full display on Thursday night.
Specifically, turning the puck over and allowing too many odd-man rushes.
It was too much for the Devils to overcome as they matched a season-high with their fourth straight loss as the Stars won, 4-3, at American Airlines Center.
The Devils (22-11-7) are in a 0-2-2 slide, matching their 0-2-2 slide from Nov. 3-9, and are 0-2-1 on a four-game road trip that concludes Sunday against the Islanders.
The Devils' 5-2 loss at Washington on Saturday was also punctuated with too many odd-man rushes and defensive lapses.
Cory Schneider stopped 29 shots while Ben Bishop made 39 saves for the Stars (23-16-3).
The Devils gave away three goals in a shoddy second period with Sami Vatanen and captain Andy Greene being those with the most egregious mistakes.
First, Greene, from the right corner of the Devils' zone, threw a blind, backhand pass in front of the crease directly to Stars right wing Alexander Radulov, who accepted the gift and took three strides to the Devils' crease and slipped a forehander past Schneider to tie the game at 1 at 6:18.
Then, Vatanen, who has now taken five minor penalties in two games, was called for interference at 10:21 as he tried to play the puck while stepping out of the penalty box, which he was in for cross checking Antoine Roussel at 8:17.
Brett Ritchie deflected John Klingberg's blue-line wrister for a power-play goal to make it 2-1 at 11:07.
Then, Vatanen let the puck slip under his stick, leading to Tyler Seguin leading Jamie Benn on a two-on-one short-handed rush, which ended with Seguin's short-handed goal from a sharp angle at on the left to make it 3-1 at 18:11.
It was the third shorthanded goal the Devils have allowed this season.
The Devils did get a gift goal back with 27.1 seconds remaining as Taylor Hall, on a rush on the left, had his sharp-angle shot deflect off defenseman Greg Pateryn and over Bishop's glove to make it 3-2. It was Hall's team-high 14th goal.
But the Devils' gave up another goal off an odd-man rush as Vatanen had a shot blocked at the Stars' blue line and Martin Hanzal fed Mattias Janmark for an all-too-easy goal at 9:43.
The Devils did pull within 4-3 on a fluky power-play goal of their own as Bishop seemed surprised by Kyle Palmieri's flinging the puck toward the crease from the right boards. Seconds earlier, Travis Zajac was helped from the ice after being hit in the head at the crease by Palmieri's slap shot.
After two games with so-so to outright bad first periods, the Devils played a solid first 20 minutes and were rewarded with Brian Boyle's power-play goal with 13.9 seconds remaining as he got to the crease to redirect Hall's feed from the left off the rush over Bishop's blocker.
Schneider had stopped Tyler Pitlick's short-handed breakaway at 19:31 and also denied Radek Faksa's follow attempt before the Devils turned the puck in transition.
Boyle, who now has 11 goals, 10 shy of his career high set in 2010-11 with the Rangers, also had two goals in the Devils win over the Stars at New Jersey.
