The Devils couldn’t have asked for a better start. Just under four minutes in, Brett Pesce’s shot from the point glanced off Dawson Mercer and past Pyotr Kochetkov to open the scoring. Less than two minutes later, Timo Meier fired a low shot from distance that beat Kochetkov five-hole. After killing off their first penalty, the Devils tacked on another—Stefan Noesen redirecting Simon Nemec’s point shot for a 3–0 lead by the midpoint of the period. The shots were 13–9 in favor of the Devils after one, and the momentum was firmly theirs.
But the Hurricanes responded quickly. A Taylor Hall goal in the midst of a scramble early in the second period sparked a three-goal run in under four minutes, with Jackson Blake and Andrei Svechnikov following up to tie the game 3–3. Nico Hischier responded swiftly to put New Jersey back in front, beating Kochetkov from the right circle, but a 5-on-3 late in the period proved costly. Sebastian Aho blasted a one-timer to tie things once more.
“Right now it’s tough to think about,” Hischier said post-game. “We battled our asses off. They got the momentum and we just panicked a little bit. We found ourselves back on our heels.”
Despite the back-and-forth, Jacob Markstrom kept the Devils alive, making a number of critical saves late in regulation and throughout overtime. Carolina outshot New Jersey 14–3 in the first extra frame, but Markstrom stood tall—particularly during a flurry from Logan Stankoven in the final minute of the first OT.
“Had a push in the first overtime and he made some unbelievable saves,” Meier said. “Not just this game but through the whole series.”
Just over a minute into the second overtime, Mercer was called for a high stick on Jesperi Kotkaniemi that drew blood, giving Carolina a four-minute power play. They made it count before the first penalty expired, ending the Devils’ playoff run on a goal by Sebastian Aho.
“It’s not a great feeling. Losing like that,” said Meier. “Everybody competed so hard, worked so hard. We can be proud of the way we battled through adversity. We have to get better. We’ve got to get better.”
Markstrom, who was stellar throughout the series, was frank in his post-game comments.
“It’s tough right now. Put up four goals on the road in Carolina against a good team — we should have brought it home. That should have been enough.”
Head coach Sheldon Keefe praised his players for the fight they showed in the face of injuries and tough breaks throughout the series.
“I loved the fight in our team. We competed hard. We fought back and got the lead back. Then they get a long five-on-three — the first of the series — I liked a lot about our game tonight,” he said.
“Our team fought, man. We came out of Game 1, it didn’t go well. That was our worst game of the series and we lost Luke and Dilly in Game 1. We knew at that time, they wouldn’t be back. Our guys gave everything they had. We were on fumes in overtime. Marky’s battling. There was a path there for us to win. Came close to it today.”
Keefe also credited the effort on the power play.
“We (essentially) scored a power-play goal tonight — that’s what you want. Got a huge one in the first. Third period we got a Dougie Hamilton one-timer in the slot, but it didn’t go in.”
In the end, the series didn’t go New Jersey’s way, but the effort never wavered.
“It’s a hard league. It’s hard to win,” Meier said. “But this group never quit.”
