Devils 5, Hurricanes 1
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Left winger Mike Cammalleri scored twice, and two of his Devils teammates scored for the first time this season in New Jersey's 5-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night at PNC Arena.
Cammalleri scored the game's first and final goals. Center Adam Henrique, right winger Stephen Gionta and center Jacob Josefson also scored for the Devils, who had matched their season high for goals. Cammalleri, who had his first multi-goal game of the season, also provided an assist.
Goalie Keith Kincaid, playing in only his fifth game of the season, stopped 30 shots for the victory.
Center Brad Malone scored for Carolina, which lost its third game in a row.
Hurricanes goalie Eddie Lack made 22 saves.
New Jersey (13-10-2) hadn't reached the four-goal mark in any of its previous seven games.
The Devils won one of their previous four games (1-2-1), but they have been good away from home. They improved their road record to 8-4-0.
New Jersey held a 4-1 lead through two periods with Gionta and Josefson each notching his first goal of the season. They each played in all 25 games.
Cammalleri opened the scoring. He had mostly an open net for his shot from the left side after receiving the pass from center Tyler Kennedy.
Cammalleri notched his first goal in five games, avoiding what would have been his longest stretch of the season without a goal.
The Devils built a 2-0 lead by taking advantage of a double minor for center Jeff Skinner's high-sticking penalty in the second period. Henrique skated in from the blue line uninterrupted, beating Lack with a shot into the upper portion of the net.
On Henrique's goal, the Hurricanes (8-13-4) were one second shy of killing off half the penalty. Six seconds after the rest of the penalty expired, the Devils struck again when Gionta scored on a wraparound.
Malone put the Hurricanes on the board with a quick shot as he skated toward the slot with 2:24 remaining in the second period. It came on Carolina's 20th shot.
Josefson restored the three-goal lead on a two-on-one breakaway with 1:03 to play in the second period.
After the Devils grabbed a 4-1 edge late in the second period, Malone was dropped in a fight with New Jersey right winger Jordin Tootoo. Less than two minutes after scoring his second goal of the season, Malone was gone for the next five minutes of playing time.
It was a long third period with numerous stoppages as the players squared off in a chippy final 20 minutes.
Until then, it had been mostly another quiet night in Carolina's home arena, where the Hurricanes dropped to 4-8-1.
NOTES: New Jersey RW Jiri Tlusty spent parts of the past six seasons with Carolina, but he missed his sixth consecutive game with an upper-body injury. ... The Devils had their fathers on the trip for this game. ... Hurricanes D Ryan Murphy has returned from an injury rehabilitation assignment with Charlotte of the American Hockey League after suffering a concussion. He missed Carolina's last seven games. ... The Hurricanes reassigned D Jaccob Slavin to Charlotte. ... This marked the 90th career game for Hurricanes G Eddie Lack, but only his second appearance versus New Jersey. He lost the previous encounter. ... This was the first of four meetings this season between the teams. ... New Jersey is home against Philadelphia on Friday night. ... This was the first of three home games in four days for the Hurricanes, who meet the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.