The Hurricanes fell short in the second half of a back-to-back in the Garden State.
The Carolina Hurricanes fell short in their bid to sweep a back-to-back in the mid-Atlantic region, as they dropped a Metropolitan division showdown to the New Jersey Devils in Newark by a 4-2 score on Thursday.
After rolling to a 4-1 win over the Flyers on Wednesday, the legs weren’t there for the full 60 minutes as the Devils picked up a win they needed badly to keep pace with Carolina in the standings.
The Hurricanes brought a high energy level from the opening puck drop, smothering the Devils for the first 10 minutes of the game as New Jersey couldn’t muster a shot on goal.
It paid off, too, as Jack Roslovic struck for his 11th goal of the year on an outstanding play in tight on a rebound of a Dmitry Orlov shot to make it 1-0.
Roslovic’s next impact play went the other way, as he made a soft clearing attempt up the middle of the ice that was intercepted by Ondrej Palat. A split second and a nifty deflection pass by Jack Hughes later, Jesper Bratt deflected the puck past Spencer Martin to make it 1-1.
A familiar issue reared its head again, as a pair of penalties in quick succession put the Hurricanes down two men with Shayne Gostisbehere and Jordan Staal in the box.
The penalties rolled into the second period, and New Jersey scored with just a second left in the penalty to Gostisbehere, meaning Staal had to remain in the box after Jack Hughes lofted a perfect pass over a diving Jaccob Slavin before former Hurricane Stefan Noesan
After Noesen’s goal, the Devils controlled the vast majority of the second period as they seemed to have much more juice in their legs than Carolina did.
But a shift from Kotkaniemi, Robinson, and Necas flipped the momentum as Necas rang one off the post and Dmitry Orlov drew a penalty with 16 seconds left in the frame.
With a whole period to scheme up an equalizer, Carolina did exactly that after winning the face-off to start the third. After winning the draw and retreating to get into position for a breakout, Necas wired a pass off the boards in the New Jersey zone that found a streaking Svechnikov, who sired a shot high to the glove side of Markstrom off the post and in to make it 2-2.
The tie lasted just over 10 minutes, as the Devils eventually broke through again when Dawson Mercer got the puck below the goal line and fed a creeping Dougie Hamilton, as another former Cane beat Martin high to the near side to make it 3-2.
The bid for a comeback grew more difficult when Jackson Blake took a penalty with 7:05 left, and Bratt made Carolina pay with his second of the night to put the game more or less out of reach.
The Hurricanes will be back in action on Saturday in Columbus against the Blue Jackets for a 7:00 PM puck drop.