The New Jersey Devils’ playoff journey commenced in Raleigh against a determined Carolina Hurricanes team, a Game One encounter that ultimately favored the home side with a 4-1 victory on Sunday. Captain Nico Hischier provided a moment of hope for the Devils, scoring their lone goal. However, the Hurricanes responded with a strong offensive showing, highlighted by Logan Stankoven’s two tallies. This result leaves the Devils facing an early deficit in the best-of-seven series as they prepare for their next contest in Carolina on Tuesday, April 22nd.
New Jersey Devils Lineup:
Noesen – Hischier – Bratt
Haula – Mercer – Meier
Cotter – Glass – Sprong
Palat – Dowling – Bastian
Hughes – Pesce
Dumoulin – Kovacevic
Dillon – Hamilton
Markstrom
Allen
Carolina Hurricanes Lineup:
Jarvis – Aho – Blake
Hall – Kotkaniemi – Svechnikov
Martinook – Staal – Stankoven
Carrier – Roslovic – Robinson
Slavin – Burns
Orlov – Chatfield
Gostisbehere – Walker
Andersen
Early into the first period, Jalen Chatfield opened the scoring to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 17:36 right off the face-off when Jack Roslovic got the puck to Eric Robinson, who spun around to pass it off to Chatfield, who fired a wrist shot past Jacob Markstrom through traffic from the right point.
Logan Stankoven made it 2-0 for Carolina on a snap shot from the left circle with 13:23 on the clock off a pass from Jordan Martinook, who fed him a backhand after recovering the puck from behind the net when Nico Hischier broke up Martinook’s centering pass. On the power play at 6:52 of the second, Taylor Hall made a cross-ice pass to Stankoven to extend the lead to 3-0 on a wrister from the left post for his second goal of the game. Hischier took a pass from Jesper Bratt, who got ahold of the puck when Brett Pesce received it from Luke Hughes and sent it over to Bratt, who drove up the ice with Hischier following along the opposite side. Once Hischier took the pass, he skated over the blue line and struck from the left circle off the right post with 1:09 remaining.
With little time left in the third frame, Andrei Svechnikov and Hall skated alongside each other in the neutral zone after fighting for the puck in Carolina’s zone. Hall handed the puck over to Svechnikov while Hughes attempted to stop him, and put it home in the empty New Jersey net with 2:28 left in regulation for the 4-1 final.
Game Notes:
– Jacob Markstrom made a total of 41 saves for New Jersey.
– At 11:35 of the middle frame, Brenden Dillon left after a collision with William Carrier and did not return for the remainder of the game. In the third period, Cody Glass left and did not return. …According to head coach Sheldon Keefe, Dillon was “eager to get back out there” after leaving with an injury, but had been held back by team doctors. There is no update on Glass.
– New Jersey allowed 45 shots, giving up more shots only once during the regular season (46 in a 2-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 17).
– Frederik Andersen made a total of 23 saves for Carolina.
– Taylor Hall picked up a pair of assists.
– Logan Stankoven became the fifth Carolina rookie to light the lamp twice in a playoff game. He joins Seth Jarvis (2022), Warren Foegele (2019), Andrei Svechnikov (2019), and Erik Cole (2002).
ITR 50: Atlantic Division Preview – Inside The Rink
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