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Hurricanes Blow by Devils in Raleigh

Coming off of the Christmas break, the Devils wanted to build on their victory in Detroit just prior. They would kick things off with a home-and-home series against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Unfortunately for the Devils and their fans, they could not get anything going and lost to the ‘Canes, 3-1.

The hockey day got started with Team USA beating Devils-prospect John Quenneville and Team Canada 4 to 2 in the World Junior Championship in Helsinki, Finland. Pavel Zacha and the Czech Republic also fell to Russia 2-1 in a shootout. Another Devils prospect, goaltender Scott Wedgewood, is currently serving a suspension, but will be playing for Team Canada. There are conflicting reports, but Zacha might have been injured in the game against Russia.

The first half of the home-and-home against Carolina saw no major changes for the Devils’ lineup. Patrik Elias is still out with a knee injury. Stefan Matteau and Jon Merrill were healthy scratches.

In net, Cory Schneider made 22 saves on 25 shots for the Devils, while the Hurricanes’ “old reliable” Cam Ward went 19 for 20 on the night.

The first period saw no highlights except for one of only two penalties called all game: Eric Staal of Carolina, two minutes for slashing only 35 seconds into the game. The other penalty occurred 3:34 into the third and saw the Devils’ Jiri Tlusty take a tripping call against his former team.

The scoring got kicked off 9:57 into the second when the ‘Canes’ Brett Pesce got credited for a goal with assists to John-Michael Liles and Joakim Nordstrom. It appeared that Carolina’s Andrej Nestrasil got a piece of the puck on the way in, but Pesce got credit for it and it was 1-0 Hurricanes.

The Devils would tie things up 1:18 into the third when Adam Henrique got the puck in deep into the Carolina zone to Kyle Palmieri, who played give and go with Mike Cammalleri behind the net and scored on a wraparound. The game was tied and Palmieri had a career high-mark for goals in a season (15). He never scored more than 14 for the Anaheim Ducks previously.

Carolina would break the stalemate at the 8:17 mark of the third when Justin Faulk scored his 13th of the season (and first non-power play goal of the year) from Eric Staal and Kris Versteeg. The goal came off of a broken play at the Carolina blueline and the Hurricanes were able to capitalize.

The ‘Canes would add an insurance goal at 16:46 of the third when Nordstrom connected on a slapshot to bury the puck behind Schneider. Faulk got the assist for a multi-point night as well (both he and Nordstrom had a goal and an assist each).

The Devils will try to put this behind them when the Hurricanes travel to Newark on Tuesday for the other end of the back-to-back – although it is only a home-and-home for the Devils, the ‘Canes travel to Chicago to play the Blackhawks on Sunday, in between the games against New Jersey.

How will the Devils respond? Will they finally be able to get some traction on this season? They need some points fast, as following the Hurricanes game; they play at Ottawa (who are right in the playoff race with the Devils) and then have the Dallas Stars, one of the Western Conference’s best teams. Hopefully, they can pick up the points and move forward in their playoff hopes.

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Devils Look Good in Rout of Hurricanes

The Devils will see a lot of the Carolina Hurricanes this month – three meetings including tonight – and they started things off by sending a message to the team from Raleigh. They also showed they can handle the weaker teams just as well as they have played against the stronger teams in the NHL.

For the Devils, it was a special road trip: the players’ dads came along, flying down to North Carolina with the club and riding the bus, participating in pre-game meals, meetings and the morning skate. The fathers will also be at tomorrow’s home game against the Flyers.

The Devils gave Cory Schneider a rare night off, giving the nod to Keith Kinkaid, who responded by grabbing 30 of the 31 shots he saw. It was Kinkaid’s first start since November 20 at Edmonton. The Hurricanes also gave their number one a night off, as Cam Ward sat for backup Eddie Lack who made 22 saves.

Also back in the lineup for the Devils was Stefan Matteau and Brian O’Neill. Coach Hynes wanted to shake things up after the team’s somewhat lackluster performance against Colorado on Tuesday. For those wondering, Matteau’s father, Stephane, had a prior youth hockey commitment and could not make the trip with the Devils. The sight of Stephane Matteau, Rangers legend, in a Devils jersey would certainly have been priceless.

Anyway, the Devils got the scoring started in the first when Mike Cammalleri (who finished the game with two goals and an assist) beat Lack on a give-and-go with Tyler Kennedy. The assist was Kennedy’s 200th career NHL point. With the Devils up 1-0, the only down point of the first period was that Travis Zajac went down with what the team is calling an upper body injury. He did not return in the game.

The second period was when the Devils really exploded. At 9:04, Carolina’s Jeff Skinner was called for high sticking Lee Stempniak. It drew blood and Skinner went off for a four-minute double minor. The Devils took full advantage. At 11:03, Adam Henrique was sprung on a partial breakaway in the Hurricanes’ zone by Stempniak, made a nice inside-out move and beat Lack. John Moore had the secondary assist. Because the goal came with 2:02 remaining on the power play, the Devils still got the second full two minutes of power play time.

Although they did not score on that part of the power play, at 13:10, Stephen Gionta scored on a wraparound after settling down his initial shot. The assists went to O’Neill and Kennedy (who, along Cammalleri and John Moore had a multi-point night as well).

Carolina got on the board when Brad Malone scored at 17:36 of the second, but the Devils got their three goal lead back about one minute and twenty seconds later when Jacob Josefson broke his scoring drought (he had not scored since last April). Josefson, whose father and brother made the trip over from Sweden for the game, took a nice pass from Cammalleri, setting up a two-on-one with Josefson and Kyle Palmieri. Josefson opted to shoot and put the puck behind Lack. The Devils were up 3-1.

At 19:19 of the second, Jordin Tootoo went toe-to-toe with the lone Canes’ goal-scorer, Malone. In a scary moment, Tootoo connected with a hard left hand, knocking Malone to the ice and out of the game.

The third period saw the Devils add to their lead and saw another scrap with a less scary outcome. The fight came at 11:20 when Justin Faulk and Matteau went at it after a roughing up in the corner that Matteau took. Matteau got the upper hand in the fight and left the winner, though both also got a roughing minor in addition to the fighting major. The Devils would make their case for winning the game when Patrik Elias swept the puck to Moore at the point, who quickly gave it back to Elias. Elias saw Cammalleri down along the goal line, passed the puck to him and he snapped off a shot at a sharp angle, beating Lack and giving New Jersey the 5-1 lead.

The Devils played a good, complete game and won with a total team effort. This will help them build confidence as the Philadelphia Flyers come to town tomorrow. In the second half of a back-to-back, New Jersey will be facing a Philly team that has won their last three. It is a rivalry game and the team will have their dads in attendance. Can they continue to play as completely as they did in Carolina? Time will tell as four games in five nights continues Friday night at the Rock.