Devils Drop Season Opener in Carolina | GAME STORY

RALEIGH, NC - New Jersey dropped their season opener to the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-3, on Thursday night. A game that required multiple efforts to tie the game continually.

"They’re a very disciplined, hard-working team, they don’t give you a lot," Jesper Bratt, who ended the night with a goal and an assist, said, "I think that’s kind of where it kind of turned the game for ourselves. We gave them all of those opportunities."

The opening period of the Devils' season opener had an unsettling familiarity for New Jersey. It was reminiscent of the way their playoff series against Carolina unfolded last April. The Hurricanes dictated the pace and possession, preventing New Jersey from any sustained offensive zone presence of their own. Taylor Hall opened the game's scoring, deflecting a long-range shot from Shane Gostisbehere just over four minutes into the game, the Canes taking the early 1-0 lead. Still, the Devils managed to weather the storm, to keep the deficit well within reach.

The second period brought a noticeable shift for the Devils. There were better and longer flashes of their own game, instead of chasing it. Dougie Hamilton, against his former team, jump-started the response effort with a well-placed backhand shot that broke through to tie the game at 8:51. After K’Andre Miller scored for the Hurricanes to retake the lead, Cody Glass responded by tying the game for the Devils, a second time. He capitalized on a rush play, firing a snapshot past Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen.

"We fight back and get it to 3-3 and kind of do small mistakes that feed their offense and then they’re a hard team to get back at when you let off the gas a little too much," Bratt added.

With things all tied up heading into the third, it was Carolina's Miller who cracked the 2-2 tie, after the Devils ran into consecutive penalties. Jesper Bratt had the Devils' third tying goal of the evening, capitalizing just after Miller gave Carolina their lead. Carolina took their fourth lead of the night with 2:43 to play, a goal by Seth Jarvis, the night then capped off by Jarvis' second goal into the empty net, before Eric Robinson scored his first of the season for a 6-3 final.

"I liked the fight of our guys to keep coming back, but we were the second-best team all night long, so the result was appropriate," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We’ve got lots to work on to keep getting better.”

“As a team, we were struggling on the lines, getting pucks out, pucks in, just feeding their offense," Bratt said, analyzing the overall game. "All through the lineup. Even me and Jack’s line were just not getting those pucks in and just feeding their offense. It takes the momentum away from your team. We’ve got some things to talk about to get better at.”

Here are some observations from the game:

• Evgenii Dadonov played just two shifts in the third period after taking a shot to the hand. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said Dadonov was unable to grip his stick after the shot, but that the X-rays came back negative, which is a positive in terms of potential injury situations.

• Seven players in the Devils’ lineup were not on the ice when New Jersey was eliminated in Game 5 of last season’s playoffs. Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, Luke Glendening, and Arseny Gritsyuk all made their Devils debuts, with Gritsyuk also making his NHL debut. At the same time, Jack Hughes, Brenden Dillon, and Luke Hughes missed that final playoff game due to injury.

• New Jersey's record in Carolina the past 20 games drops now to 2-17-1.

• Brett Pesce played in his 700th career game, a full circle moment, having played over 600 games as a Hurricane before joining New Jersey last sesaon. Read more about Pesce's milestone here!

Pesce had some heroic-like shifts in the game, particularly in the third period, where his shot blocking played a big role. On one block, the puck caught Pesce in the back as he skated through the slot. He went down in what looked like considerable pain before eventually skating back to the bench on his own. He ended the night with three blocked shots in his 21:42 of ice time, which led the defensemen.

• Despite missing most of training camp and not suiting up in the preseason, Luke Hughes jumped right into the lineup for opening night.

“I thought Luke looked really good offensively,” Keefe said. “He made lots of good plays, again, to come in and play your first game and make it this one here in this building, it’s a tough assignment but I thought for his first game he made a difference offensively, like a lot of our guys, there’s lots to improve upon defensively.”

• The long-awaited debut of Arseny Gritsyuk arrived, taking to the ice first with his rookie lap, a big smile adorned on his face. I had a chance to ask him before the game if he was nervous or excited. The answer was, again with a big smile, "Both!".