The New Jersey Devils defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Thursday night at the Prudential Center. The Devils put together a strong defensive performance in front of Jacob Markstrom, who earned a victory in his 500th career game. With the win, the Devils improved to 13-7-2, while the Hurricanes fell to 14-5-0.
Game Recap
Period One
It was a slow start to the game without many pucks making it through to either goaltender. The Devils were tagged with an early penalty but successfully killed it.
After a near goal for New Jersey that went off the inside of the goalpost, Carolina got on the board first with a rebound shot that bounced around and found Jack Roslovic at 8:43. Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield had the assists.
The Devils responded with a great shift that saw multiple dangerous shots get through to Spencer Martin, but they couldn’t find the back of the net.
New Jersey broke through at 14:45 when Jesper Bratt buried a slick cross-crease pass from Jack Hughes. Ondrej Palat tallied a secondary assist with a great play to pick off a clearing attempt by the Hurricanes.
Carolina took two late penalties, giving New Jersey over 40 seconds of a five on three to begin the middle frame.
The Devils outshot Carolina 9-7 in the period.
Period Two
The Devils converted at 00:46 during the two-man-advantage with a midair redirection by Stefan Noesen against his former team. Jack Hughes added another primary assist and Bratt had the secondary helper.
Carolina killed the rest of the penalty, but the Devils grabbed the one goal lead.
After the power play, New Jersey put together a dominant stretch of hockey and pinned Carolina in their zone shift after shift. They controlled the neutral zone and limited any dangerous chances.
The Devils took a late penalty to end the period. Bratt had a great shorthanded opportunity, but couldn’t beat Martin off the rush.
New Jersey outshot Carolina 8-7 in the middle frame.
Period Three
The Hurricanes scored just 12 seconds into the period with a power play goal by Andrei Svechnikov. Martin Necas and Shayne Gostisbehere had the assists.
The Devils endured some pressure from the Hurricanes, but quickly turned the tides with a snipe by Dougie Hamilton to break his goalless drought at 10:35. Dawson Mercer and Tomas Tatar were rewarded for a hardworking shift with the assists.
New Jersey got a power play after Tatar was high-sticked, and they converted.
Bratt scored his second goal of the night at 14:05 with a shot wired top corner from the high slot. Noesen and Jack Hughes had the assists.
Carolina pulled their netminder with 3:30 left in the period, but thanks to Markstrom and the Devils’ defense, New Jersey didn’t allow another goal.
The Devils were outshot 22-21 in the victory.
Takeaways
Power Play Stays Hot
New Jersey’s power play stayed red hot, tallying two goals against one of the league’s best penalty killing units. It’s now operating at 30.3%, good for third in the NHL.
Stefan Noesen has played a huge roll in the Devils’ success with the man-advantage this season. He has four power play goals so far and has been a perfect net front presence, something that Devils didn’t have last season.
Adding Jeremy Colliton to the coaching staff continues to pay off for New Jersey as both special teams units have continued success.
Former Hurricanes Quiet the Storm
The Devils have acquired several former Hurricanes in recent years and they paid dividends for New Jersey in the victory.
Noesen had another fantastic game as he continues to be a crucial offseason pickup. He had a big power play goal in the second to give the Devils their first lead of the night and he assisted on the final goal that iced the game for New Jersey.
Dougie Hamilton had a big game as he scored his first goal since October 19 against Washington. While he had been racking up assists in that time, the Devils’ offense was missing the threat of his lethal shot from the blue line. With the goal against Carolina hopefully the floodgates will open for him.
Hamilton also had one of his best defensive performances of the season. He tallied two blocked shots and three hits, which was tied with Brenden Dillon for the most among defensemen. He was positionally sound and used his size and reach to break up potentially dangerous plays.
Brett Pesce had a good performance in his first game against his former team, too. He tallied six blocked shots, the most among skaters on either team.
Markstrom’s Milestone
Devils’ goaltender Jacob Markstrom played his 500th career NHL game on Thursday night. He joined 80 other goaltenders who reached the mark but became just the third Swedish goaltender to achieve the milestone.
While it wasn’t his busiest night, thanks to New Jersey’s defense, he made some big saves when called upon, especially as the Hurricanes surged in the early parts of the third period.
He posted a .909 SV% with 20 saves on 22 shots. Additionally, he had a .29 GSAx.
Up Next
The Devils look to keep rolling on Saturday when they take on the Washington Capitals in the nation’s capital.
It is already the third of four meetings between the Devils and Capitals. The teams split the first two contests.
Washington sits third in the Metropolitan division with a 13-5-1 record and 27 points. Most recently, they lost 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche.
The Capitals will be without their Captain, Alexander Ovechkin, on Saturday night. Ovechkin suffered a fractured fibula against the Utah Hockey Club on Monday night and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on MSGSN2 and MNMT.
