Stars give Bowness first win with shutout of Devils

DALLAS-- Rick Bowness won his first game as coach of the Dallas Stars, 2-0 against the New Jersey Devils at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

Bowness was promoted Tuesday after the Stars fired Jim Montgomery for an unspecified act of unprofessionalism.
"The guys were working their butts off," Bowness said. "They really were. They wanted to be on the ice, and you've got to love that about athletes. They're energized like that and they want to be a factor and an impact on the ice.
"You could tell that all of the guys wanted to be out there all the time, but they can't. So we tried to spread the minutes out as best we could. I really liked the energy and the fact that they all wanted to be out there in every situation."
WATCH: [All Devils vs. Stars highlights]
Ben Bishop made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season, and Radek Faksa and Joe Pavelski scored first-period goals for the Stars (18-11-3), who have won three straight and are 17-4-2 in their past 23 games.
"It's nice," Bishop said. "We've gotten pretty close this year and the guys have been playing great all season. The goalie kind of gets the reward, but it's a team effort. It's nice to get that one and hopefully we can pile on some more."
Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for the Devils (9-16-5), who have not won in six games (0-5-1). They have been outscored 24-9 in those games.
"We weren't good enough," New Jersey captain Andy Greene said. "Our execution was pretty much nothing going right. You saw that in the first two [periods], and then I thought we played really well. We started to skate and started to manage the puck a little bit. We created chances."
Faksa scored with a wraparound at 1:42. It was his first point in nine games after an eight-game point streak.
"It helped a lot," Faksa said. "We scored two goals in a short period of time and we took control of the game. It was a big help for us."

Pavelski scored in front of the crease at 11:50 after Roman Polak kept the puck in the offensive zone at the blue line.
"We're all here to win games and contribute," Pavelski said. "When you get opportunities like we have, you have to contribute in certain ways. Every night is a little different, but if you get a chance and get your look, you have to finish. It just helps with everything."
The Stars outshot the Devils 16-2 in the first period.
"I think we were bad on both sides of the puck with breakdowns," New Jersey forward Kyle Palmieri said. "We gave them every chance outside of our goaltending tonight. It was just a bad back end."
Bishop made 16 saves in the third period.
"Everybody contributed and it was a great game from start to finish," he said. "The penalty kill did a great job there in the third period and I thought the guys did a great job of sticking with it in all three periods and not giving them much all game."

They said it

"At the end of the day, if you don't put in the effort, it doesn't matter what game plan you have looking into that night. In the first 40 minutes, the effort wasn't there, the work ethic wasn't there, the compete wasn't there. It doesn't matter who you play, you aren't going to generate points." -- Devils coach Alain Nasreddine
"Something like that isn't easy. It's odd. I don't know the proper word for it. It is what it is. It's something where, once it happens, there's still a big game and an endgame for this group. We didn't want to waste this game because of something like that. It was about going home, getting your mind right to play tonight, and the guys came here and were prepared." -- Stars forward Joe Pavelski on reacting to Jim Montgomery being fired

Need to know

The Devils on Dec. 3 had to play a game the night their coach was fired. They lost 4-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights after Nasreddine replaced John Hynes. ... New Jersey was shut out for the fifth time this season. ... Bishop has won his past nine games against the Devils. It was his 32nd NHL shutout. ... The Stars are 10-1-2 in their past 13 home games against the Devils. ... Dallas has won 10 of its past 11 home games.

What's next

Devils: At the Colorado Avalanche on Friday (9 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ALT, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Stars: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TVAS, FS-SW, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)