The New Jersey Devils played the Carolina Hurricanes back-to-back, hosting the first game in Newark on Dec. 27, leading to their next game in Raleigh, North Carolina on Dec. 28. The Devils fell short this time, as the Hurricanes defeated the Devils 5-2, ending the Devils three-game winning streak.
As the first period commenced, the Devils came out strong and ready to defend. The Devils put up an amazing first period of defense and only allowed 10 shots on goal, per Jake Allen’s strong goaltending in the first. Although, the first period resulted in no goals amongst the teams, the Devils showed a significant improvement in their defensive play compared to their performance in the first period against the Hurricanes on Friday.
Paul Cotter opened up the second period by scoring just two minutes and 56 seconds in, giving the Devils the 1-0 lead. His goal remained unassisted. This marked Paul Cotter’s first goal since Nov. 12, reigniting his offensive confidence. The second period stayed quiet and well defended until 19:30, when the Hurricanes found the back of the Devils net on their 30th shot on goal. The goal was scored on a one-time slap shot by Dmitry Orlov, which tied the game 1-1 with seconds remaining in the second period.
As the third period commenced, just a minute and five seconds in, the Devils’ Ondrej Palat scored his eighth goal of the season – instating the Devils 2-1 lead, as the Hurricanes trailed. His goal was assisted by teammates Jesper Bratt and Dougie Hamilton. Hamilton finally received a point in this back-to-back series against the Hurricanes as on Friday, he was the only defenseman to go point-less. Meanwhile, the left winger, Palat scored back-to-back goals across these last two games.
Only 51 seconds later, Sebastian Aho tied the game 2-2, with an assist by Jack Roslovic. Battling back-and-forth between official calls, thought-to-be injuries, and penalty calls, the game turns over for the Devils, leading to an unsuccessful third period. While the third period began to become heated, Timo Meier received a five-minute major, which was served by Tomas Tatar and a ten-minute game misconduct for kneeing Martin Necas. Necas was escorted off the ice, but later then returned to the game. On the power play, the Hurricanes striked again – Jackson Blake finds the back of the Devils net, bringing the game to 3-2. His goal was assisted by Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Brent Burns.
Late into the third, Dmitry Orlov and Erik Haula both received two-minute minors for roughing. As Haula was escorted to the penalty box, Orlov attempted to go after him, increasing the physicality of the game.
To conclude, the Hurricanes’ Jack Roslovic scored the final two goals of the night, including an empty netter, leading to the final score of 5-2. His first goal of the night was scored prior to the roughing call on Haula and Orlov.
This was a big third period for the Hurricanes as they secured the home win by putting up four goals in just 20 minutes. Despite the loss, the New Jersey Devils will remain first in the Metropolitan Division with 51 points.
The Devils received 21 minutes’ worth of penalty time against the Hurricanes, while the Hurricanes had a total of eight minutes worth of penalties.
In total of tonight’s game, the Devils had 23 shots on goal, while the Hurricanes put 41 shots on the Devils goal. Devils goalie, Jake Allen had a save percentage of .900 and Hurricanes goalie, Pyotr Kocketkov had a save percentage of .913.
The New Jersey Devils will now continue their longest road trip of the season, heading to the West Coast for their next four games, wrapping up in Seattle to head back to the East Coast to play the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden for their fifth on-the-road game on January 9th. Their first matchup will be against the Anaheim Ducks on New Year’s Eve at 8 p.m.
