2 weeks Ago By Daniel Amoia, The Hockey Writers
The New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes clashed on Thursday night for a key intra-divisional matchup at the Prudential Center. Outside the arena, it looked like a real hurricane was passing through, which was likely the reason for a scarce crowd. Regardless, the crowd had plenty to cheer for as the Devils took down the Hurricanes by a score of 4-2 .
Jacob Markstrom stopped 20-of-22 (.909 save percentage) for a victory in his 500th career game. The first period started with consistent heavy pressure from Carolina.
The Devils got their first solid chance and Nico Hischier rang iron. The Hurricanes came the other way and scored 22 seconds later as Jack Roslovic put a rebound past Markstrom. Six minutes later, Jack Hughes made an impressive deflection pass to Jesper Bratt for a goal.
The Devils had a 5-on-3 man advantage to start the second frame and Stefan Noesen cashed in as it was expiring: J. Hughes with the primary tally again. The rest of the second was a bit of a snoozefest with a great defensive effort from both sides.
Just like the Devils did to start the second, Carolina almost immediately struck with a power play goal of their own. Andrei Svechnikov made a perfect snipe past Markstrom to knot it at two. But Dougie Hamilton joined Noesen as the second former Hurricane to score against his old squad, as he rocketed one past Spencer Martin.
Teach ‘em how to what?! pic.twitter.com/5fLOK5qjT5 Then, Jesper Bratt added a huge insurance goal on the power play to make it 4-2.
The score stood there as the Hurricanes couldn’t get anything going with the extra attacker. This Devils victory was their first in the regular season against Carolina in 620 days. The Devils will be back in action on Saturday in Washington to take on the Capitals.
The Hurricanes will also play on Saturday, in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission..
