- There was some doubt as to whether Jack Hughes was going to be able to play in Game 5. He was on the ice for warmups but did not take line rushes. He played just 14:16. Lindy Ruff revealed after the game that he was not expecting Hughes to be able to play in this game because of an upper-body injury.
"For him to put his skates on and play, says a lot about his character," Ruff said.
Hughes would not elaborate on his injury.
- John Marino ate up some monster minutes in Game 4. He played 8:24 of the first period, including 1:25 shorthanded. After two periods, Marino logged 16:13. After 60 minutes of regulation, Marino had a team-high and game-high 26:54 of ice time.
- The Hurricanes' best chance in the first period came off Jesper Fast's stick when he had a wide-open net to shoot at with Akira Schmid diving back in desperation. It looked at first like Schmid had made the save, but on the replay, it was Fast who shanked the puck which went up and over the net. This turned into a crucial moment, keeping the score at 0-0, giving the Devils the opportunity to open the scoring, instead of chasing the game.
- Timo Meier's saucer pass to Dawson Mercer was executed to a T. Mercer connected with the puck just in time to tap it in between the bottom of Fredrick Andersen's glove and the top of his pad. Michael McLeod made two great plays on the goal, first the assist to Meier, but he also tied up Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the middle of the ice as they both, along with Mercer were charging to the net. McLeod's position may have just been enough of a deterrent, as Kotkanimei was inches short of deflecting the puck away.
Instead, it landed right on Mercer's stick, where he completed his drive to the net with the 1-0 goal.
- Kotkaniemi took an ill-advised penalty on Curtis Lazar in the second period, after Kotkanimemi first got caught up with Dawson Mercer at the Devils' bench. Lazar jumped in on the play to come to his teammate's aid, before Kotkaniemi gave Lazar an extra face wash before skating away. The Hurricanes forward took a roughing penalty and the Devils made them pay.
Meier would score just eight seconds into New Jersey's power play, cashing in a puck off a Dougie Hamilton shot through the middle of the ice. They don't say pucks on the net for no reason.
- The Kotkaniemi penalty also started a sequence where the Devils outshot the Hurricanes 12-1 in a 13-minute span. The Hurricanes opened the second period with a 9-1 shot advantage prior to the penalty.
- Meier missed a huge opportunity to put the Devils up by two, missing a wide-open net with Andersen out of position. Perhaps Meier was even a little bit surprised that the puck was on his stick after watching the patience of McLeod in front of Andersen, to find a streaking in Jack Hughes. Hughes made a couple of head-fakes and nifty moves before passing to Meier.
Hughes went flying on the play, in Bobby Orr-esque style.
- For the first time in the series, the two teams headed into the third period with a tied game.
- This was the first game this series where a goalie was not pulled and the first overtime game of the Second Round series.
