On Thursday night, the New Jersey Devils took on an old playoff rival, the Caroline Hurricanes. The Devils would face them at PNC Arena, which is where their playoff run ended last season. This game could potentially put the Devils in a better position for playoffs and give them a chance to pass the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan standings. They were unable to come away victorious as the Hurricanes won 3-2.
The 1st period would start very slow as the Devils would look tired while attempting to get shots on net. Only a minute into the period Sebastian Aho would net the first of the game from Teuvo Teravainen and Jaccob Slavin. This would seem to wake the Devils up as for the rest of the period they would constantly be putting shots on net. They would eventually fall short and leave the first period goalless.
The Devils would enter the 2nd period with hopes to tie the game. New Jersey would show more unorganized play as they would struggle to take shots on net or even keep the puck inside their zone. The Hurricanes would take advantage of this and Teravainen would give the Canes another goal from Michael Bunting. The Devils would make more of an attempt to catch up to the Hurricanes, but would fail as Jordan Staal would score of a rebound from Brady Skjei and Seth Jarvis.
Head coach Lindy Ruff would go to challenge the Hurricanes' goal, but would be turned away and then faced with a delay of game penalty. The Devils would stay scoreless and end the period with a mere 5 shots on net as the Hurricanes would lead by three.
When the Devils returned for the 3rd period, they would show signs of their play from before but would advance throughout the period. More shots would be fires at the net and the urge to score would be felt more. Five minutes into the 3rd period, Justin Dowling would receive a pass from Alexander Holtz and would score his first as a Devil and the first of the game for them.
New Jersey would push the Hurricanes relentlessly in hopes of scoring again. With a minute left in the 3rd period, Jesper Bratt would net another from Luke Hughes in what seemed to be desperation to tie the game The 3rd period would end though and the Devils would exit the ice.
Devils Postgame Interviews
When Erik Haula was asked about the teams performance in the 2nd period he would go on to say “They hemmed us in, we weren’t able to get much offensive zone time”, he would also on to also say “ We’ll give it our best on Saturday, try to get two points before break”
Dowling would be asked about his first goal as a devil, he would answer with “It was huge for me, its been over a year since i've been in the NHL.” His views on the 2nd period would correlate with Haula's also.
Hopefully Saturday, the Devils can show up with some heat from this loss and grab two points before the All-Star Break.
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