RALEIGH, N.C. — Logan Stankoven scored two second-period targets on Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom in his first playoff recreation with Carolina and the Devs misplaced 4-1 to the Hurricanes to open their first-round collection.
The Devils had been behind 3-0, and the Hurricanes greater than doubled the Devs’ shot output and saved the stress on in a powerful begin to the postseason.
“Obviously it was pretty clear that I think we were looking forward to this day for a bit now,” goaltender Frederik Andersen stated.
Jalen Chatfield scored a first-period purpose for the Hurricanes, who saved regular stress on Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-net clincher late within the third.
Carolina had misplaced seven of its final eight regular-season video games since clinching its seventh straight playoff journey on April 3, a number of coming with stars and key contributors out of the lineup. In that sense, it had been a protracted wait to get right here, again on house ice with a rowdy house crowd in playoff mode.
“There’s always that worry that maybe you come out a little sluggish or whatever,” coach Rod Brind’Amour stated. “But obviously that wasn’t the case. And we were healthy, a healthy group. So it was a calculated risk maybe, but at least after Game 1, that was the right decision.”
Andersen completed with 23 saves for Carolina, together with a key cease on Timo Meier close to the crease halfway by the third. The Hurricanes additionally turned away a Devils energy play with about eight minutes left to remain in agency management.
Nico Hischier acquired New Jersey’s solely purpose by taking Jesper Bratt’s cross-ice go and blasting the puck previous Andersen throughout a 4-on-4 likelihood within the second.
Carolina completed with a 45-24 shot benefit.
“They’re not doing anything special,” Hischier stated. “They play simple hockey, hard hockey, and we’ve just got to match that.”
Markstrom completed with 41 saves on what turned out to be a tough afternoon bodily for the Devils, who had a number of gamers skating to the tunnel with accidents.
First defenseman Brenden Dillon went down within the second interval after getting tangled with Carolina’s William Service, then struggled to remain on his ft earlier than being helped to the tunnel. Coach Sheldon Keefe stated Dillon needed to return however medical doctors held him out.
Later, the Devils misplaced two gamers on a single chaotic sequence within the third, which began with defenseman Luke Hughes laying within the web then doubled over in ache whereas reaching for his left shoulder. Virtually instantly, Markstrom took a whack at Svechnikov close to the highest of the crease solely to inadvertently hit heart Cody Glass and knock him to the ice.
Whereas Hughes was capable of return, Glass was assisted to the tunnel and Keefe had no replace on Glass afterward.
Chatfield acquired the Hurricanes off to a fast begin with a purpose simply 2:24 into the sport. Then it was a giant day for Stankoven, who was the first return in a trade-deadline deal that allowed Carolina to pivot out of its big-swing January addition of scoring winger Mikko Rantanen.
Stankoven first zipped the puck previous Markstrom off a feed from Jordan Martinook, who had pressured Hischier right into a turnover alongside the boards, at 6:37 of the second. He struck once more on the ability play, with Stankoven blasting a shot previous Markstrom and off the within of the left submit for the 3-0 edge.
“I thought the second period, we were just overwhelmed,” Keefe stated. “That was not good enough. The third period was good. The damage was done by then.”
Recreation 2 of the collection is Tuesday.
