NEWARK, N.J. _ Tight games seem to follow the Stars. It's part of the deal they make when they've chosen to play a defensive style of hockey that leads to low-scoring games and a lack of track meets and blowouts.
The other part of that deal is that games can turn on the simplest, slightest plays, the margin of error lessened as scores tightened. During Saturday night's 3-2 overtime win over the Devils at Prudential Center, that play belonged to Joe Pavelski.
Pavelski won the game for Dallas with 3:21 left in overtime by tapping in a Mattias Janmark rebound, finding the back of the net for the first time since Jan. 3 against Detroit.
"We need every point we can get," Stars interim head coach Rick Bowness said. "It's a great way to start the road trip and it's a great way to start a very tough month."
For the Stars, it was their second win in three games since returning from the bye week and All-Star break. For the Devils, the loss ensured they would remain with the second-fewest points in the Eastern Conference.
On paper, the Stars should have handled the Devils. New Jersey is headed to the lottery again during a season in which its fired both the head coach and general manager. Dallas will _ in all likelihood _ make the playoffs and fancies itself a Stanley Cup contender thanks to Ben Bishop's goaltending and the defensive identity in front of him.
But with the margin for error trimmed in tight games, close games like Saturday night can happen. And then Pavelski made the difference.
After it appeared that Joel Kiviranta would lift the Stars to victory with his third-period goal, Nico Hischier tied the game with a shot from the blue line with 8:07 left in the period.
Joel Kiviranta _ the fresh-faced, floppy-haired rookie measuring less than 6-feet and weighing less than 200 pounds _ scored his first career NHL goal Saturday. Kiviranta banged his own rebound past Devils goaltender Louis Domingue 5:04 into the third period after Jamie Oleksiak picked off a New Jersey pass in the neutral zone.
The Stars gifted the Devils an early lead in the first period by fumbling the puck in their own zone on the power play. As the puck squirted into the slot in front of Bishop, Pavelski and Miro Heiskanen failed to corral it as the play resulted in a slap-shot bomb by Kevin Rooney. It was the first true short-handed goal given up by the Stars this season (two were empty-netters, one was on a penalty shot).
Jason Dickinson tied the game with 1:18 left in the second period after a masterful shift from Corey Perry set him up for a chance in the slot. Perry darted through the offensive zone before regathering the puck and teeing up Dickinson from behind the net.
Earlier in the day, it looked like Kiviranta might not even play on Saturday night. Roope Hintz was skating during morning skate and appeared ready to make his return from an upper-body injury suffered Monday against the Lightning. Hintz appeared on track to play Monday against the Rangers.
"We got through most of practice and at the end of practice, he wasn't 100 percent so there's no sense playing him," Bowness said.
Hintz played one shift during Monday's overtime win over Tampa Bay, absorbing two hits and playing 20 seconds before not returning to the game. But without Hintz and Justin Dowling, Kiviranta entered the lineup on the fourth line as the right wing with Mattias Janmark and Joe Pavelski.
