BANNER NIGHT:Former Devils captain Scott Niedermayer speaks to the crowd (left), and watches with his family as his No. 27 is raised to the rafters in an emotional retirement ceremony last night.
It was a banner night for Devils captains, past and present.
First, the Devils hoisted Scott Niedermayer’s No. 27 to the rafters in Newark, then Zach Parise continued his explosion by equalling his career best with a four-point night in a 6-3 victory over the Stars.
The Devils completed the evening to remember with their biggest offensive outburst of the season, winning their third straight. Tonight in Montreal, they can parlay it into their longest winning streak of the season.
The Devils have won five of six, and they welcomed back both the retired Niedermayer for his ceremony, and top center Travis Zajac for his season debut after Achilles tendon surgery on Aug. 18 .
There were chants, cheers, tears, standing ovations and memories revisited as Niedermayer’s 27 joined Scott Stevens’ No. 4 and Ken Daneyko’s No. 3 as the Devils’ only retired numbers.
“The crowd gets really excited, and it’s easy for a player to get extra energy,” Parise said. “When you get a full house you want to put on a good show and we did.”
Parise, who has eight points in the winning streak, led the way.
“That’s how it should be. He’s too good a player not to get points every night,” Ilya Kovalchuk said.
It made a rousing success of Niedermayer Night.
“To put this jersey on again feels right,” Niedermayer said after he once more donned the sweater he wore for 13 seasons in New Jersey.
He was presented with a Lincoln Navigator, a crystal trophy, a mountain bike and a framed jersey by the Devils and the players. He fought back tears as he thanked all he could.
Once the ceremony ended, the Devils put a stop to Dallas’ three-game winning streak built on the first three NHL starts of goalie Richard Bachman.
New Jersey trailed twice before taking over the game with four unanswered goals, starting with Adam Henrique’s second-period shorthander, launched by Parise’s dogged work. Kovalchuk and Petr Sykora sent the Devils into the third leading 4-2, and Parise opened a three-goal lead in the third. After Toby Petersen finally ended New Jersey’s goal streak, Patrik Elias completed the scoring.
* Zajac played 15:22, going minus-2, and said he “felt better as the game went on. I was a little tentative in the first. That’s human nature coming back from injury. Once I got knocked around a little, I got my confidence.” … After declaring himself OK from a bruised wrist, Henrik Tallinder sat out with what the Devils called back spasms. … Alexander Urbom played in his stead, while Matt Taormina was a scratch, along with Tim Sestito.