Devils ride Cammalleri hat trick past Hurricanes
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Left winger Michael Cammalleri produced a hat trick and the New Jersey Devils won for the first time in six road games, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Sunday night at PNC Arena.
Cammalleri, who hadn't scored this season entering the game, scored twice in the first eight minutes of the second period and added his third goal 8:30 into the third period. The 34-year-old has six career hat tricks.
The Devils (5-3-3), who improved to 1-3-2 on the road, scored on their only two second-period shots. Defenseman Andy Greene added an empty-net goal with 28 seconds to play.
Right winger Beau Bennett assisted on two of Cammalleri's goals, the latter coming when he dumped a pass to his linemate, who blasted it past Carolina goalie Eddie Lack.
Carolina avoided a shutout when center Andrej Nestrasil scored his first goal of the season off a rebound with 6:59 remaining.
Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid, playing in only his second game of the season, made 33 saves.
Lack, playing for the first time in six games, stopped 17 shots. His record dropped to 1-2-1.
The Hurricanes (3-5-3) have points in six of 11 games, but they've yet to win consecutive games.
New Jersey opened the scoring when Cammalleri delivered off center Travis Zajac's pass through the slot.
Cammalleri scored again less than 3 1/2 minutes later, this time bursting down the right side and shooting the puck past Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk.
On Cammalleri's second goal, the Hurricanes used a coach's challenge to determine if the Devils were offsides on the sequence, but the ruling on the ice of a goal stood.
The three goals give Cammalleri 18 points in 21 all-time meetings with Carolina.
The Devils didn't score on two power-play chances in the first period, falling to 2 of 19 in man-advantage situations on the road this season.
In the second period, the Hurricanes came up empty on three power plays. They put 14 shots on goal in the period.
Carolina has scored a total of four goals in regulation across the last three games.
NOTES: This was New Jersey's first game against another Metropolitan Division team. ... D Andy Greene moved along into fourth place for the longest games-played streak in Devils' history by appearing in his 322nd consecutive game. ... Hurricanes C Jordan Staal played in his 700th career NHL game. ... New Jersey D Damon Severson, with nine points through the first 10 games, began the day as one of six NHL defensemen to leader his team in scoring. ... Devils RW Devante Smith-Pelly was a lineup scratch for the first time Sunday. ... Hurricanes RW Lee Stempniak played part of last season with the Devils, producing 16 goals and 25 assists in 63 games. ... This was the first of four meetings between the teams this season. They meet again Tuesday night at Newark, N.J.