Devils at Hurricanes
The New Jersey Devils look to put a frustrating loss in the rearview mirror quickly when they visit the Metropolitan Division-rival Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. The Devils had a 15-4 advantage in shots during the first period Saturday and built a two-goal lead late in the second before suffering a 3-2 overtime setback against Detroit but did earn a point for the third straight game.
“We are lucky we have back-to-back games so we can focus on the next game,” New Jersey forward Pavel Zacha told reporters after the loss. “We can’t really afford to lose these games when we are winning. We have to stop thinking about it and play (Sunday).” Nico Hischier (upper body) reportedly made the trip to Carolina after missing the last three contests - giving him a chance to return to the lineup for the Devils, who won three of the four meetings last season. The Hurricanes are coming off a poor performance at home on Saturday as they gave up three goals in the second period of a 4-1 loss to Columbus - their seventh setback in nine games (2-5-2). Leading scorer Sebastian Aho recorded the only goal for Carolina on Saturday to give him six points during his four-game streak, but captain Justin Williams described his team’s play to reporters as “a dud.”
TV: 5 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New Jersey), FS Carolinas
ABOUT THE DEVILS (8-8-2): New Jersey’s top three point producers were kept off the scoresheet Saturday, but Kyle Palmieri (11 goals, nine assists), Taylor Hall (five, 14) and Travis Zajac (seven, seven) combined for 10 shots. Defenseman Egor Yakovlev drew into the lineup Saturday in place of Sami Vatanen (lower body), who was placed on injured reserve, while fellow blue-liner Eric Gryba was scratched after being recalled from Binghamton of the American Hockey League. Blake Coleman scored his seventh goal of the campaign against Detroit to tie for second on the team and has notched seven points in his last six contests.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (8-8-3): Carolina has scored just 18 goals in its last nine games and was held fewer than two on four occasions during that stretch, but it still leads the league in shots per contest by a good amount. Teuvo Teravainen was kept off the scoresheet on Saturday but has recorded four points in four games to sit second on the team with 13, but Jordan Staal has not registered one in his last six contests. Micheal Ferland has scored two of his team-leading nine goals in the last three games while Williams has not tallied in his last 14 contests.
OVERTIME
1. Carolina D Brett Pesce (lower body), G Petr Mrazek (lower body) and C Victor Rask (hand) are practicing but unlikely to return on Sunday.
2. New Jersey D Damon Severson notched an assist on Saturday and has recorded five of his 13 points in the last four games.
3. Hurricanes G Scott Darling made his sixth start of the season on Saturday and gave up more than three goals for the first time this season.