Devils beat Stars 4-2 to extend streak

Dainius Zubrus scored with 9:03 to play to help New Jersey beat Dallas 4-2 on Wednesday night, extending the Devils' winning steak to five and ending the Stars' winning streak at six.

David Clarkson and Brian Gionta also scored, and the Devils overcame two early miscues by goalie Martin Brodeur in preventing the Stars from matching their franchise record for consecutive wins.

Stu Barnes and Jussi Jokinen benefited from Brodeur's early generosity in staking Dallas to a 2-0 lead, but the goalie was outstanding in the final two periods in finishing with 19 saves.

The loss also ended Dallas' streak of collecting a point in eight straight games (6-0-2).

Zubrus intercepted a pass by Mike Modano in the Devils' defensive zone and sent a pass to a breaking Jamie Langenbrunner on the right wing. As Langenbrunner carried the puck into the Dallas zone, Zubrus charged up the ice, took a cross-ice pass and fired the puck into an open net before goalie Marty Turco could get across.

Zach Parise added an empty-net goal with 17 seconds to play.

Dallas has had three seven-game winning streak in franchise history, the last covering Nov. 22-Dec. 5, 1997.

Brodeur gave up two soft goals in the first period and then stopped at least six good scoring chances in the second period to allow the Devils to tie the game.

Gionta got the game-tying goal with 1:12 left in the period. Patrik Elias made a pass from the left circle and Gionta put it past Turco for his ninth goal of the season.

Clarkson had scored midway through the period with a wraparound that appeared to hit off the skate of Stars center Mike Ribeiro and deflected between the pads of his goaltender.

In between the goals, Brodeur was magnificent when the Stars had a two-man advantage for 1:37. He stopped Sergei Zubov with a hard slap shot from the point early and then turned aside three point-blank blasts by Modano from between the circles.

It more than made up for his first period, which featured two of the easiest goals Brodeur has ever surrendered.

Barnes got the first 9 seconds after Jeff Halpern was whistled for hooking. Barnes picked up a puck along the right board, skated into the circle and beat Brodeur with a shot between his pads for his first goal of the season and the 250th of his 16-year career.

Jokinen got his ninth a little less than 3 minutes later. He stole the puck from Devils defenseman Colin White with a forecheck, staked into the left circle and took a soft shot from the dot. Brodeur tried to cover the outside part of the net with his glove, but he didn't get it down fast enough and the puck slid into the net.

Notes:@ Devils F Jay Pandolfo left the game in the third period after falling hard into the boards following an off-balance shot. ... Devils defensemen Johnny Oduya and Andy Greene were left out of the lineup for the first time this season. ... The game was the only one between the teams in the regular season. ... Elias returned to lineup after missing two games because of the flu. ... Barnes' goal ended a 26-game drought and it came on his 23rd shot of the season. ... Dallas is 8-3-4 in November, with game left at Pittsburgh on Friday night.