In Dallas, the Stars dropped a 3-1 decision to the New Jersey Devils Saturday afternoon. 
The loss prevented thre Stars from adding clearance for their second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
“We didn’t look like a team that wanted to make the playoffs, I’ll tell you that,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “Let’s be honest, what do our eyes tell us? There wasn’t near enough desperation in our game, it’s as simple as that. It’s everybody, and they can’t point fingers. They’ve got to look at themselves because it was everybody. We didn’t have one person out there, for me, that played a good game.”
Nico Daws made 27 saves in the New Jersey win.
The game was tied, 1-1, with 71 seconds left in the game when Nico Hischier put New Jersey ahead.
“We needed some good saves at key times, and I thought he made those saves for us,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said of Daws. “I thought his puck play on a lot of their entries allowed us to get out of the zone. I thought it was a real sharp game by him.”
Ryan Sute rhad the only goal for the Stars, he gave Dallas a 1-0 lead in the second period.
“It wasn’t the game we needed to show up and play,” Suter said. “They came at us, they came hard, and we weren’t ready for that.”
Pavel Zacha added insurance with 61 seconds left in the game.
“If we play like that, we’re going home in three weeks, it’s as simple as that,” Bowness said. “That’s what I told them after the game. We play like that, three weeks from today, we’re going home, if that’s what we want. You can say all the right things all the time. It’s not what you say. It’s what you accept and what you do.”
New Jersey scored three times in the third, it started with a goal from Ty Smith to knot the game, 1-1.
Jake Oettinger made 20 saves in the Dallas loss.
“I feel confident in myself, and I think I can get this team to the playoffs,” Oettinger said. “Bad goals go in. It’s about forgetting about it and moving on and being a rock for this team. I have a great opportunity here to do that, and it’s up to me.”
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