A tight-checking game turned on a single break, and rookie Nick Palmieri capitalized for the streaking New Jersey Devils. Palmieri scored on a deflection with 5:37 left and Johan Hedberg stopped 19 shots for his 17th NHL shutout as the Devils extended their season-high winning streak to eight with a 1-0 victory over the slumping Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. With newly acquired Dallas defenseman Alex Goligoski in the penalty box for high-sticking, Ilya Kovalchuk broke his stick on a shot from the left point. But Palmieri was set up to the right of the net and he deflected the puck past Kari Lehtonen for his sixth goal. "I was in front of the net trying to set a screen," Palmieri said. "Usually that shot coming from the point is a little harder than that, but a broken stick might have thrown their goalie off a little bit and I just happened to get a little tip on it. There weren't a lot of chances on either side, so we'll take the goal any way we can get it. "There's a strong belief in this locker room we can compete with any team in the league and we've been doing that in the last little while." Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=310222009
