Devils Homestand Concludes with Loss to Carolina | GAME STORY

NEWARK - A sharp angle shot at 2:50 of the third period by Carolina's Jesperi Kotkaniemi broke a draw between the Devils and Carolina Hurricanes, leaving the Devils to play catchup in a 2-1 deficit.

It was a tightly contested matchup, with little room for fancy playmaking and requiring board battles, and dump and chase plays to generate shots. The game was also highly physical and the Devils, despite the loss, played a competitive game. New Jersey was credited with 27 hits, more of a rarity for the Devils game than the Hurricanes, but there was a point of emphasis to play the one-on-one game against Carolina to give themselves a chance.

"We want to be a team that's physical in the right areas," interim head coach Travis Green said, "We knew there were going to be a lot of one-on-one confrontations against Carolina, that's where they play the game."

"Quite honestly, we played a hell of a game," Green continued, "I don't like saying when you lose that you've played a hell of a game, but that's a very good hockey team over there. And I'm not going to say that we were the better team but we had definitely a good chance to win this game, and sometimes you lose those games."

Nico Hischier tied the game at 2 with his 21st goal of the season in the second period. Finishing off a play with Jack Hughes at 15:27, beating Canes netminder Pytor Kotchekov with a snapshot over his glove side. Andrei Svechnikov hit the empty net with 18:49, before Hischier scored his second goal of the game with 11 seconds remaining. 

"I think it was a good game," Hischier said, "We were there, completed hard. That was a hard game. I think if you ask them over there, they would say it wasn't an easy win for them. So, sometimes we've got to take the positives out of it here and I think we didn't play a bad game. We move on from here."

Teuvo Teravainen scored the second empty net goal for Carolina to bring the final score to 4-2. 

Martin Necas opened the scoring of the game with a power play slap shot at 12:28 of the first. 

The Devils end their three game homestand with a 4-2 loss to the Canes, having gone 1-2-0 over the stretch.

Here are some observations from the game:

• The Carolina Hurricanes challenged a no-goal call with 7:18 remaining in the second period when, on a Devils delayed penalty, the puck did enter the net behind Daws. The challenge looked at whether Jonas Siegenthaler pushed Hurricanes forward Stefan Noesen into Daws for the interference or if Noesen interfered on his own.

After the review, the call on the ice stood.

It was a rather curious call, with Carolina about to be handed a 5-on-3 power play with a delayed penalty on Kevin Bahl. Instead, the Hurricanes were given a delay of game penalty, sent Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the box, changing the matchup to 5-on-4 instead of 5-on-3.

• Jack Hughes became the fourth player in franchise history to record multiple 40-assist seasons before the age of 23, according to NHL Stats. He joins Kirk Muller (3x), Scott Gomez (2x) and Wilf Paiement (2x). Hughes hit the 40 assist mark with his helper on Hischier's goal that tied the game at 1.

Hughes picked up a clearing attempt by Carolina's Seth Jarvis along the walls, before dancing around defenseman Brent Burns for the subtle feed to Hischier. 

"Nice play by Jack," Hischier said, "I knew he was going to see me there and give it over there. I hit my shot."

• Daws, reacting to the Kotkaniemi sharp angle goal said: "That's a frustrating one. You can say it's a good shot, but it's obviously very saveable. It's frustrating that's the difference in the game."

• Travis Green loaded up his big-guns early in the third period with the two teams tied at one, uniting a line of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt. It was a line he also relied on in the third period against the Florida Panthers, with the team trailing by one. 

"I’m not afraid to get into a mix where we have six guys that we mix and match a little bit depending on the game, confidence in all those guys," Green said after the game against the Panthers, "Any time you put arguably your top three players together, they like it as well."

• Not afraid to continue playing with his matchups, when the Devils had an opportunity 4-on-3 in the third period, the Devils staff sent out four forwards, including a defensively responsible Nico Hischier. Hischier was joined by Jack Hughes, Bratt and Alexander Holtz. 

• Newly acquired goaltenders Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen were not on the game roster this afternoon, both players were unable to arrive in time due to immigration and travel after Friday's Trade Deadline. 

Nico Daws started in net for New Jersey, making 21 saves on 23 shots.