NEWARK, N.J. _ Cory Schneider responded to starting back-to-back games for the first time this season.
And the Devils, led by Brian Boyle's emotional effort, responded to coach John Hynes' challenge to show some better resolve playing on consecutive nights.
So the Devils' chippy 5-2 win over the Stars on Friday night, with Schneider making 28 saves, vaulted them back into a three-way tie with the idle Blue Jackets and Capitals for the most points in the Metropolitan Division.
Brian Boyle scored the winner and added an empty-netter and Schneider, who lunged to rob Jamie Benn in the slot with 3:15 left in regulation, also made 34 saves in Thursday night's 2-1 overtime loss at Montreal.
"The last two times we played back to back, we didn't ante up," Hynes said of a 5-0 loss at Arizona on Dec. 2 and a 5-2 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden a week later, both with Keith Kinkaid in net. "What's our response going to be? Back-to-back is a players' game. You've got to get yourself physically ready and be prepared to compete."
The Devils (18-9-5) were playing their second straight game without leading scorer Taylor Hall (right knee contusion), injured in Tuesday's 5-1 win over the visiting Kings. Fellow top-six forwards Marcus Johansson (ankle bruise) and Kyle Palmieri (broken right foot) remained out of the lineup as well.
Schneider robbed Alexander Radulov at the right post at 1:52 of the third period as the Devils killed off a 53-second five-on-three power play for the Stars (18-14-1), who got 21 saves from Kari Lehtonen.
Like their overtime loss to the Canadiens, the Devils spent a good portion of the second period on the power play. This time, they had four second-period power plays, including a (brief) five-on-three, and all nine of their shots in the period came on the man advantage.
The Devils were held without a shot until Drew Stafford's close-range slapper at 12:14.
But they finally took a 3-2 lead at 16:39 with nine seconds remaining on Stephen Johns' double-minor for high-sticking Miles Wood as Boyle, with his 100th career goal, got to the crease and knocked in the rebound of Will Butcher's blue-line shot.
Boyle, cross-checked by John Klingberg earlier in the period, promptly drew a 10-minute misconduct for saying something to the Stars defenseman, then engaging defenseman Greg Pateryn.
But, finally freed from the penalty box, he and linemate Jimmy Hayes set up Nick Lappin's insurance goal to make it 4-2 at 12:57 of the third period.
Like Thursday night's game, the Devils got off to an early lead as defenseman Steven Santini blasted a shot past Lehtonen from the right point at 4:28, the 22-year-old's second goal of the season.
And, like Thursday night's game, the Devils found themselves in a first-period tie after Martin Hanzel, with a Tyler Seguin feed from the left banking off Devils captain Andy Greene, was credited with a power-play goal at 6:42. Santini was in the box for delay of game after he slipped and closed his hand on the puck behind the Devils' crease at 5:00.
But, unlike Thursday, the Devils forged back ahead.
Blake Coleman, who grew up in Plano, Texas, about a half hour outside of Dallas, punched the puck into the net as he battled at the net with 53.5 seconds left in the first period. It was Coleman's fifth career goal and his second against the team he rooted for growing up.
The Devils nearly took a two-goal lead into the second period but, after a video review, it was correctly ruled that Pavel Zacha's shot from the left crossed the goal line after time had expired.
The Stars did tie the game at 2 as Radulov, chasing down the puck in the neutral zone, blew past Butcher to the crease and slipped in a backhander at 8:09 of the second period.
