RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes are pushing previous their injury-hit group of forwards by way of grit, relentless effort and scoring all through the lineup.
It has allowed them to take early management of their second-round playoff sequence towards the New Jersey Devils – convincingly, at that.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored twice in a roughly 2 1/2-minute span throughout Carolina’s four-goal second interval, Frederik Andersen stopped 28 pictures and the Hurricanes beat the Devils 6-1 on Friday night time for a 2-0 lead of their second-round playoff sequence.
Jordan Staal and Martin Necas additionally scored in that blow-it-open second, which turned a scoreless sport between the highest two regular-season groups nonetheless alive within the playoffs right into a romping Hurricanes win with the backing of one other rowdy dwelling crowd.
Throw in clinching targets by Jordan Martinook and Stefan Noesen within the third, and the Hurricanes have had 9 completely different gamers discover the web at the very least as soon as by way of two video games.
“No secret, we’re missing some firepower, so where are you going to find it?” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour stated of injured scorers like Andrei Svechnikov, Teuvo Teravainen and commerce acquisition Max Pacioretty. “Right now we’re getting it up and down the lineup.”
PHOTOS: Hurricanes prime Devils, go up 2-0 in 2nd-round playoff sequence
It additionally marked the second straight sport the Hurricanes chased Devils netminder Akira Schmid. He lasted only some minutes into the second interval of the Game 1 loss, then took a seat after the second together with his workforce down 4-0 on this one.
“That’s been our style all year long,” Staal stated, “which is first and foremost give them nothing, and then just be tenacious on the puck and create turnovers and send it to the net.”
Miles Wood scored for the Devils early within the third, however Andersen was sturdy in his third straight postseason begin for Carolina going again to the first-round clincher towards the New York Islanders.
The Devils return dwelling to host Game 3 on Sunday, dealing with an 0-2 gap for the second straight best-of-seven sequence. They misplaced the primary two video games at dwelling by 5-1 scores within the first spherical towards the New York Rangers earlier than rallying to advance with Monday’s Game 7 clincher.
This time, they’ve been outscored 11-2 by way of two video games.
“What bothers me the most is we got outbattled again today,” Devils captain Nico Hischier stated. “It’s the playoffs. Skill doesn’t mean a thing. You’ve got to battle hard for your opportunities.”
Kotkaniemi’s first objective got here when he took cross alone on the correct facet, fittingly after Carolina had stored possession alongside the boards. He skated in to the dot earlier than firing a shot that went below Schmid’s proper arm and grazed his ribs earlier than discovering the web on the 1:35 mark.
Moments later, Martinook – whose exercise had him within the combine all night time on a line that includes Kotkaniemi and Jesper Fast – skated in to tangle up two Devils gamers in a possession chase close to the boards. That helped jar the puck unfastened to skitter over to Kotkaniemi for the near-post putaway at 3:58.
The Hurricanes stored the stress on. There was Jack Drury chipping the puck in on the blue line for Staal, with the Hurricanes captain extending his 6-foot-4 body to corral it behind him earlier than going with the forehand-to-backhand end and the 3-0 lead.
And lastly, Martin Necas completed from the slot after Jaccob Slavin caught the correct publish on a rush however Carolina once more maintained possession.
“We’re trying to grind them down,” Martinook stated. “ We know how skilled this team is. If you’re one-and-done and they’re getting out clean, you’re chasing them on the way back.”
The Hurricanes dominated the opening interval of Game 1, smothering the Devils to remove open ice whereas tallying extra targets (two) than New Jersey had pictures (one).
The Devils knew they couldn’t repeat that effort and stated as a lot Thursday, noting they needed to get pucks on the web and use their velocity to power Carolina to expend power defending in its personal finish as an alternative of rolling with its aggressive forecheck.
New Jersey carried play by way of the primary 10-plus minutes, even with Dougie Hamilton ringing the publish on an early energy play that included 23 seconds of a 5-on-3 benefit.
But by finish of this one, Carolina was celebrating a blowout with Martinook’s breakaway rating towards Vitek Vanecek adopted intently by Noesen’s putaway on an ideal 2-on-1 feed from Sebastian Aho.
“Right now, 5-on-5, they’re the better team,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff stated.
NOTEWORTHY
New Jersey commerce acquisition Timo Meier was again after lacking Game 1 following a jarring hit from the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba in Game 7. He noticed 16:49 of ice time and had 5 pictures, together with cuts and scabs on his nostril together with bruising below his proper eye. … Carolina is eighteen for 18 on the penalty kill towards New Jersey going again to the common season… Martinook, Drury, Kotkaniemi and Shayne Gostisbehere had two factors for Carolina. … Vanecek surrendered two targets on 11 pictures in aid.
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