Devils 4, Hurricanes 1
Dainius Zubrus scored a pair of goals and Patrik Elias recorded three assists to secure his 800th career point as the visiting New Jersey Devils cruised to their seventh straight victory with a 4-1 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
Brian Rolston added his 10th goal and defenseman Henrik Tallinder scored for the red-hot Devils, who improved to 15-1-2 in their last 18 games and pulled to within 10 points of the Hurricanes for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
New Jersey put it away in the first, beating Cam Ward three times as it peppered the All-Star goaltender with 15 shots in the period. Zubrus got the Devils on the board just 1:14 into contest after tipping defenseman Mark Fayne’s shot between Ward’s pads.
Tallinder doubled the advantage with a slap shot from above the right faceoff circle at the 11:17 mark and Rolston added to the cushion five minutes later.
Johan Hedberg lost a chance for his second straight shutout in the third period when Pat Dwyer scored at the 6:49 mark, but Zubrus got that goal back five minutes later to keep it a three-goal margin.
Hedberg finished with 24 saves for the Devils.