Winless road trip ends with 5-3 loss in Dallas for Devils

Suddenly, the New Jersey Devils cannot win on the road.

The Devils were done in Saturday night in Dallas by Brad Richards and defenseman Stephane Robidas, who had four points apiece in a 5-3 win by the Stars, leaving New Jersey 0-2-1 on its three-game road trip.

• Boxscore: Stars 5, Devils 3, Nov. 22, 2009
  

After winning their first nine road games to come within one of the all-time record for away victories to open a season, the Devils fell in Philadelphia on Monday, then lost in the shootout Thursday in Nashville. 

Brian Rolston scored the first of his two goals just 55 seconds into the game, giving the Devils a rare early lead, but Dallas equaled with a goal from Warren Peters, then got power-play markers from Mike Ribeiro and Robidas to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission and chase goaltender Yann Danis, who was attempting to give Martin Brodeur the day off.

The Devils rallied in front of Brodeur.  New Jersey fought back to tie it with power play goals by Rolston in the second period and Travis Zajac in the third. 

Rather than making it part of a comeback victory, the Devils instead yielded the lead when Tom Wandell scored at 9:07 of the third.  Robidas sealed it with his second goal of the game with 5:51 left as Richards recorded his fourth assist.

The one-point road trip followed an eight-game winning streak for the Devils. 

In addition to the defeats, Dainius Zubrus became the latest casualty in the Nashville game, suffering a hairline fracture of his kneecap.  Zubrus will miss four to six weeks, joining injured forwards Jay Pandolfo and Rob Niedermayer, and defensemen Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya on the shelf.

The injuries have mounted to the point that defenseman Matt Corrente, one of their top prospects, was recalled from Lowell of the AHL and made his NHl debut playing wing. 

Including Corrente, there were eight Devils in the lineup against Dallas that were not regulars on the team last season. On defense were Mark Fraser and Tyler Eckford, while up front it was Corrente, Dean McAmmond, Tim Sestito, Matt Halischuk, Niclas Bergfors and Andrew Peters.