The New Jersey Devils have exceeded expectations this season, and in their biggest game yet, their top players shined, leaving the Carolina Hurricanes struggling.
Jack Hughes stole the puck and scored early, then set up two goals for Jesper Bratt, leading the Devils to a 3-0 victory over the Hurricanes on Sunday night. This win tied New Jersey with Carolina for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s a big one for us,” said Hughes, ending a six-game goal drought. “They’re a good team. Tying it up is great, and we’ll push hard in the last few games.”
Vitek Vanecek made 32 saves, earning his third shutout of the season.
Both teams now have 94 points, but the Devils have 15 games left, one fewer than the Hurricanes.
“This group is really good,” Vanecek said. “We’re playing well. The defensemen are solid, the forwards are scoring, and the goalie has to make the saves to help them.”
Pyotr Kochetkov made 20 saves for the Hurricanes, who were shut out in consecutive games for the first time since January 2014, following a 4-0 loss to Vegas on Saturday. Carolina hasn’t scored in their last eight periods.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour mentioned that he’d be more concerned about the scoring drought if his team weren’t creating chances. They scored 15 goals over three games before netting just one in the last three.
“It goes like that sometimes,” he said. “We’re in a stretch where we haven’t been able to find the net.”
Carolina hurt itself in this game, with two of New Jersey’s goals resulting from turnovers.
Hughes quickly capitalized on defenseman Calvin de Haan’s mistake, stealing the puck and scoring his 37th goal by slipping it between Kochetkov’s pads at 6:44 of the first period.
Minutes later, with the teams playing 4-on-4, Hughes led a 2-on-2 break and found Bratt behind defenseman Brett Pesce. Bratt’s quick shot beat Kochetkov to the short side.
“We knew if we let up for a couple of minutes, they’d come back at us,” Bratt said. “This was a good test for us, and we responded well.”
The final goal came 4:31 into the second period. Hughes intercepted a pass from the Hurricanes’ goalie and found Bratt, who scored his 27th goal on the ice.
“We didn’t do ourselves any favors,” Canes forward Seth Jarvis said. “But when you can’t score, that’s a bigger problem. The ones we didn’t put in hurt more.”
In the second period, Vanecek preserved the shutout with key saves on Hurricanes’ top scorer, Sebastian Aho, and Jesper Fast in the third.
Game Notes
- Devils’ Dawson Mercer had his 12-game point streak snapped.
- The teams split their four-game season series.
- Carolina was without Andrei Svechnikov, who sustained a lower-body injury Saturday.
- Devils’ Erik Haula played in his 600th NHL game.
UP NEXT:
- Hurricanes: Host Winnipeg on Tuesday night.
- Devils: Host Tampa Bay on Tuesday night in the opener of a two-game home series, concluding on Thursday.
