Devils on the Brink After Game 4 Loss | GAME STORY

NEWARK, N.J. — In the end, the lead the Devils spotted to the Carolina Hurricanes early in the game was an insurmountable deficit.

The Devils’ comeback in Game 4 fell just short after chipping away at the Hurricanes’ 3-0 lead. New Jersey are now on the brink of elimination after a 5-2 loss and falling behind 3-1 in their First Round series.

"We're fine, we haven’t lost the series yet," captain Nico Hischier said. "We’ve got to go out there, win a road game and bring the series back here. That’s all in my mind right now. The last win for them is the hardest. The effort wasn’t there tonight, especially in the first period. I think that’s where the game obviously slipped away from us, and this shouldn’t happen. We’ll focus on having a really good start in Carolina.”

Andrei Svechnikov scored in the opening minute of both the first and second periods, and Jaccob Slavin added a first-period goal to extend the Hurricanes' lead.

Nico Hischier and Timo Meier scored in the second period for New Jersey, who brought the score as close at it would get, 3-2, entering the third period.

Jordan Martinook made it a 4-2 game with just over five minutes remaining in regulation and Svechnikov completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal.

"Going down against these guys 3-nothing is not in our plans,” Hischier added. “We’ve got to be way better than that.”

“I thought we got better in the second period and made a game of it,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “But not enough at even strength in terms of offense generated and obviously our power play wasn’t able to come through again.”

The Hurricanes were forced into changing their goaltender, Freddie Andersen, at the 4:19 mark of the second period, after an unintentional collision with Meier injured the Canes netminder. Andersen’s afternoon finished with six saves on seven shots.

Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves on 28 shots.

Here are some observations from the game:

• Andrei Svechnikov's first goal came 42 seconds into the game.

“That’s the second time in the series they’ve scored on the first shot,” Sheldon Keefe said, harkening back to Jalen Chatfield’s Game 1 goal. “That’s a tough way to start the game, some guys haven’t even touched the ice yet, you’re already down. That’s tough.”

• The Hurricanes were forced to change their goaltender from Andersen to Pyotr Kochetkov early in the second period after a collision with Timo Meier, who had been pushed into the Hurricanes' netminder. Andersen remained on the ice for a significant amount of time and was assisted by a team trainer before leaving the game.

The game was further delayed after the referees issued Meier a five-minute penalty. This call resulted in a cascade of boos from the crowd, but it allowed the officials to review the play. After briefly reviewing the video, the referees overturned their decision, and Meier was not penalized. The crowd erupted in cheers.

“I’m trying to get behind Svechnikov and get open for the passing lane,” Meier said. “And Svechnikov pushed me in, obviously no intent there and hope he’s not injured too bad. But nothing on my side that I could have done differently.”

• Managing Carolina's forecheck is one of the most challenging aspects of playing against the Hurricanes. They're relentless and tenacious, much like dogs on a bone, which is exactly how they appeared to start things off in Game 4. The Devils spent a significant portion of the first half of the first period defending in their zone, facing a lopsided giveaway ratio against the Hurricanes. After 20 minutes of play, the Hurricanes had not been the victim of a single giveaway, while the Devils had surrendered nine.

• Cody Glass was the first Devil to beat Freddie Andersen, though the goal did not count. As Glass wired up for his shot, the ref blew the whistle for an offside play.

• The power play continues to elude the Devils. In Game 4, they failed to capitalize on their two opportunities, leaving their series at an astonishing 0-for-12. The Devils finished the regular season with the league's third-ranked power play, but the Hurricanes also boasted the top penalty kill in the league.

“It has to be, especially in the playoffs," Hischier said of the power play being a difference maker in the postseason. "Obviously, we all want to change that, we’ve done a lot of video it’s just not clicking right now. I think we’ve got to get a little looser and not holding our sticks too much. We know we have a good power play, we’ve shown it all year, so we’ve just got to loosen up a bit, change our mindset and obviously right now it’s no good but we have to find a way to get one. I feel if we get one, then it’ll come.”

• The Devils' blueline continues to take a hit. After playing just six minutes in Game 3 and leaving after the first period, Johnny Kovacevic missed Game 4 with his undisclosed injury. Dennis Cholowski was inserted into the lineup. New Jersey was without three of their top six defensemen. Along with Kovacevic, Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon also sat out with their injuries. Neither Dillon nor Hughes has played since Game 1.