The New Jersey Devils‘ lack of finish is truly astounding. The waning confidence as those struggles persist each game is even worse.
Hosting the Carolina Hurricanes in their third of four meetings this season, the Devils struggled to find the back of the net despite a strong start while piling up scoring chances.
As a result, Jesper Bratt‘s 600th NHL game was hijacked by the Devils’ rival in a 4-1 loss.
Although it was an eventful first period for the Devils, who outshot the Hurricanes 9-4 through the opening 20 minutes, the first frame ended with a scoreless tie.
The Devils drew the long penalty when Sean Walker tripped Paul Cotter, sending Jack Hughes and Co. to the power play. However, the Devils failed to convert on the man advantage.
The first period ended with the Devils applying a plethora of pressure to Carolina goaltender, Frederick Andersen, with the Devils holding a 9-4 shot advantage to end the opening frame.
The Devils and Hurricanes played a scoreless second period, at least for the first 13-plus minutes. That was until Luke Hughes turned the puck over in the neutral zone to Sebastian Aho. Aho then led the Hurricanes on an odd-man rush the other way, feeding Andrei Svechnikov to give Carolina a 1-0 lead.
It wasn’t long before the Hurricanes doubled their lead, as Svechnikov netted his second goal to make it a 2-0 game.
Sean Walker took his third penalty of the game to open the third frame, slashing Evgenii Dadonov and sending the Devils to the power play.
After struggling to settle the puck in the offensive zone, Timo Meier threw a puck on Andersen and beat the Canes goaltender five-hole to cut Carolina’s lead to 2-1.
However, the Hurricanes regained their two-goal lead when a streaking Jackson Blake received a pass from Nikolaj Ehlers, and he beat Jacob Markstrom to make it a 3-1 game.
Carolina was able to open the ice in the Devils’ zone after Nico Hischier became tied up with a Hurricanes skater in the neutral zone, drawing the delayed penalty in favor of Carolina.
With just under five minutes left to play in the third, Svechnikov buried a hat trick goal to widen the gap to 4-1.
Markstrom turned in his 11th loss of the season, making 29 saves on 33 shots, officially snapping the Devils’ two-game win streak.
