Pat Pickens
For 20 minutes, the New Jersey Devils looked like a red-hot team capable of competing with any opponent in the NHL.
Yet, in an outcome that seemed all too familiar to Devils fans, the Carolina Hurricanes roared back with five straight goals in their 5-2 win that snapped the Devils’ two-game win streak.
Evgenii Dadonov and Timo Meier each scored, the latter of which was set up by Dawson Mercer in his 400th consecutive game. Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves in defeat.
Carolina scored three times in the second period, led by former Devils forward Taylor Hall, who had two assists. Nikolaj Ehlers also had one goal and one assist.
The Hurricanes won their 12th straight home game against the Devils, including six Stanley Cup Playoff wins, over the past four seasons.
“I think some scars along the way need to be healed from this group,” Devils forward Connor Brown said after the game. “As soon as you let one in and go one your heels, that’s where their system takes over. That’s the type of games they prey on.”
The Devils Played a Strong First Period in Carolina
The Devils could not have asked for a better start to the game.
They kept the shot count close throughout the frame and played the proverbial solid road game. Markstrom made eight saves, and they were mostly from the outside, since the Devils allowed just 0.62 expected goals and two high-danger chances.
New Jersey also got on the board first too, despite two failed power plays in the first period. Captain Nico Hischier hit Mercer with a 100-foot stretch pass, and Mercer outwaited Carolina defenseman Sean Walker and found Meier for a tap-in goal.
It was Meier’s 22nd goal of the season. He has scored in three straight games and has five in New Jersey’s past seven games. Meier now has eight goals in 15 games since the Olympic break ended.
The Devils Came Unglued in the Second Period
Failing to navigate the Hurricanes’ surge has been a hallmark of the Devils’ struggles in Carolina, and that was no different Saturday.
Carolina outshot the Devils 15-5 in the second period, and it had a 32-13 shot-attempt advantage in the middle frame. Yet, according to Devils coach Sheldon Keefe, the whole thing flipped when Lenni Hameenaho took the team’s only penalty of the game, a tripping minor at 8:27 of the second
“We certainly were right there in the game,” Keefe said. “Up until the penalty we took, I liked our second period. We didn’t get a lot of shots to the net, but we were in their half of the ice. We just didn’t have the stamina or the energy to stay with it.”
Ehlers knotted the score on the power play, capping an elite passing play by beating Markstrom clean from the right circle. The Carolina crowd then got engaged, which activated the Hurricanes’ aggressive forecheck and pushed the Devils into mistakes.
“There’s no question our bench sank a little bit once they scored that first goal,” Keefe said. “It’s more so the opponent. You know how hard it is to score. You’ve got the lead, you’ve given them life. The crowd’s come all alive. It’s all of that.”
Shane Gostisbehere’s aggressive hold of the offensive blue line forced up a turnover, which caused a two-on-one for Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven, and Blake outwaited Jonas Siegenthaler and beat Markstrom, putting Carolina ahead at 13:48.
“Punting the puck against this team is precisely what they want,” Keefe said. “They knock it down in the neutral zone, they come right at you and it’s wave after wave after wave. We’ve got to make a play. We’ve got to get it off the boards against these guys.
Jordan Staal scored just 95 seconds later, redirecting Ehlers’ shot after Simon Nemec’s soft back-hand clearing attempt, which gave Carolina a 3-1 lead and effectively put the game on ice.
“We had time to make a play and panicked and sort of chunked it off the wall, and it gives them a chance,” Keefe said. “Those are two big plays that end up in the net.”
