Devils 3, Hurricanes 2
Ilya Kovalchuk extended his points streak to eight games with his 20th goal and Johan Hedberg made 25 saves to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.
Brian Rolston and Patrik Elias each recorded a goal and an assist for the Devils, who held on after building a 3-0 lead and are now 13-1-2 in their last 16 games.
Kovalchuk opened the scoring 5:41 into the second period by zipping a wrist shot past Cam Ward after twisting and turning inside Carolina’s zone.
Rolston doubled New Jersey’s lead with his 12th goal 34 seconds into the third period from Elias before returning the favor by setting up Elias for his 14th just 1:25 later.
Sergei Samsonov snapped Hedberg’s shutout at the 8:17 mark and Tuomo Ruutu added another with five seconds remaining with Ward on the bench for an extra attacker.
Ward made 19 saves.