NEWARK, N.J. (WNCN) — The Carolina Hurricanes were down 2-0 to the New Jersey Devils in the third period of Friday night’s Game 3, but they came back to tie it and send the game into overtime and eventually double overtime.
But it wasn’t enough, as New Jersey’s Simon Nemec scored 2 minutes and 36 seconds into the second overtime to give the Devils a 3-2 win over the Canes at the Prudential Center for their first victory in the series.
The Devils led 1-0 on a Nico Hischier goal in the first period, a score that stood until early in the third period when Dawson Mercer netted another one for New Jersey to make it 2-0.
But then Carolina came back, with Seth Jarvis scoring on a power play with just over six minutes gone in the third, followed by another power-play goal by Sebastian Aho to tie the game at 2-2 with less than three minutes to play.
The Canes take a 2-1 series lead into Game 4, which is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the Prudential Center.
Both teams had chances in the first overtime and the goalies came up with big saves and blocked shots. New Jersey, which had two power plays in the period, had an 8-2 advantage on shots.
The Devils got defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler back for the first time since Feb. 4, but were without Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon for the second straight game. New Jersey then lost another defenseman, when Johnathan Kovacevic didn’t return after the first intermission.
The Devils had the first five shots on goal of the game and the Hurricanes didn’t get their first shot until 9:06 elapsed when Markstrom turned aside an attempt by Logan Stankoven seconds before a power play expired.