After an encouraging win the afternoon before against the Utah Mammoth, the New Jersey Devils (22-17-2) ended up back in the losing column Sunday night. The Carolina Hurricanes (24-14-3), with each team playing on the back end of a back-to-back, came to town and defeated the Devils 3-1.

Game Recap

First Period 

The scoring started early in this game and only took 51 seconds. The Hurricanes wasted no time getting on the board, as Luke Hughes accidentally put the puck in his own net as it fell perfectly on his tape. Seven minutes later, the Devils responded, though, to tie things up. 

Arseny Gritsyuk corralled a loose puck and sent a pass right into the slot. Dawson Mercer fired a shot from the slot to score his 11th goal of the season. Even though the Devils tied the game, the Hurricanes put forth a dominant effort that period and the Devils managed to hang on to keep it a tied game. 

The Hurricanes controlled the pace of the period at five-on-five. They out-attempted the Devils 25-14 and outshot them 14-8. Quality was a great theme for the Hurricanes that period, as they controlled the expected goals share 1.29-0.65. 

Second Period

This period was filled with numerous penalties and the entirety of the period was played 12:01 for five-on-five. However, both penalty kills did a tremendous job of keeping the game tied. The lone goal came at five-on-five and by former Devil Taylor Hall. 

As the puck was corralled by Luke Hughes in his own zone, a good forecheck by Hall led to him simply poking the poke into the net. It’s a goal that Hughes wants to have back and a goal that simply can’t happen.  With the amount of penalties that each team took, not a lot was generated at five-on-five. The Devils found themselves down 2-1 headed into the third period. 

Third Period

The Devils showed a lot of pushback in this period. It was the type of effort and desperation that they needed to get the tying goal. However, the Devils once again beat themselves and the Hurricanes capitalized off a turnover. 

After Jake Allen turnedthe puck over behind the goal, Hall grabbed the loose puck and fed a pass into the slot to Logan Stankoven. He fired a shot underneath Allen to extend the lead to 3-1. The mountain to climb was higher, but the Devils had zero answer for the Hurricanes and goaltender Brandon Bussi. As the horn sounded, the Devils suffered defeat 3-1. 

Wrap Up

The Devils fell once again in the second of a back-to-back set. After scoring four goals the day before, the Devils scored one goal. Nikolaj Ehlers has enjoyed the new year, as he currently is riding a three game goal scoring streak. The Devils got a good response from Mercer scoring his 11th of the season. Taylor Hall burned the Devils (one goal, one assist) and Logan Stankoven scored the dagger goal. Brandon Bussi improves his record to 14-1-1. 

Game Notes 

• Dougie Hamilton did show impact in tonight’s game. He was third on the Devils in Corsi-for percentage (CF%) with 62.50 and he had the most expected goals for (xGF) with 1.01 and the third-highest expected goals for percentage (xGF%) with 59.77. 

• Not the strongest game for Luke Hughes. He finished the game with a 19.19 xGF% and the Devils were outshot 13-6 with him on the ice. He also finished with a 35.29 CF%. Of course, he also directly played into two goals against.

• The Devils’ power play just was not good enough. New Jersey went 0-for-4 with the man advantage. This included a stretch of three-straight power plays in short succession.

What’s Next? 

The Devils return to the ice Tuesday against the New York Islanders.