DALLAS -- It was a rough night for Sami Vatanen.
The Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen took three penalties and had a costly turnover, and the Dallas Stars capitalized with a pair of goals off them en route to a 4-3 win on Thursday at the American Airlines Center.
His two costly miscues came in the second period. Vatanen took a cross checking penalty -- his second minor of the night -- at 8:17 of the frame, sending him to the box in a 1-1 game. The Devils killed that penalty, but as Vatanen was stepping onto the ice, he touched the puck while still in the box.
That sent him right back to the sin bin for interference, and the Stars converted on the second power with Brett Ritchie redirecting a John Klingberg shot under Devils goalie Cory Schneider.
Vatanen then whiffed on a puck at the blue line on a Devils power play later in the second, leading to a breakaway for Tyler Seguin. Seguin dropped a pass to Jamie Benn, who had a shot saved before sending another puck through the crease form post to post.
Seguin got the puck back, and he banked it off the skate of Devils forward Miles Wood for a 3-1 Stars lead at 18:11.
The Devils pulled back within 3-2 moments later, when Devils forward Taylor Hall sent a tight shot on goal on a rush down the left side. Stars goalie Ben Bishop made the initial save, but the rebound bounced off Stars defenseman Greg Pateryn and into net for Hall's 14th goal of the season.
But the Stars pushed their lead back to two goals when they used a blocked shot to spring a 2-on-1, where Mattias Janmark finished an easy goal off a pass from Martin Hanzal at 9:43.
The Devils got within 4-3 when a soft shot from the right wall from Kyle Palmieri somehow found its way past Bishop for a power-play goal at 15:59.
The Devils did have a lead in the first period, where Brian Boyle opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 19:46 of the first period. He finished a Taylor Hall pass in front of net on a 3-on-2 rush after Schneider made a shorthanded save on the other end.
The Stars answered in the seocnd period when they capitalized off another Devils mistake. Defenseman Andy Greene sent a puck in front of the Devils' crease, where Stars forward Alexander Radulov collected it and beat Schneider to tie it at 1-1 at 6:18.
Zajac hurt
Devils forward Travis Zajac left the game late in the third period when he was struck in the head by a Palmieri slap shot. The puck hit the top of Zajac's helmet.
He went down to the ice, but got up and skate off slowly under his own power and went down the tunnel.
Next up
The Devils will end their four-game road trip with a 1 p.m. game against the New York Islanders at the Barclays Center on Sunday in Brooklyn. The Devils will then have it's five-day bye week, where they won't play or practice.
They resume game action on Saturday, Jan. 13 with a 7 p.m. game against the Flyers at the Prudential Center.
Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com Devils on Facebook.