Hurricanes Take Down Devils, 4-1, in Raleigh | GAME STORY

RALEIGH, N.C. -The Hurricanes scored in the opening 20 seconds of the game and never looked back as the Devils fall 4-1 to Carolina. New Jersey's winless skid extends to six straight games and Carolina now has sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division.
"Too many 2-on-1s, too many odd-man rushes that cost us goals," Devils Captain Nico Hischier said after the game. "It wasn't lacking on compete tonight, I think we battled hard, but we're beating ourselves right now and that's definitely frustrating."
"If you look at the goals against, guys had missed assignments, we beat ourselves on the goals against," said Devils head coach Lindy Ruff. "You look at the game as a whole, a lot of inside chances, a lot of second opportunities, lot of zone time, lot of great opportunities, missed nets on some great opportunities and on breakaways, don't score. There was a lot of stuff I thought we did really well but we had about four breakdowns, three of them are goals.
"When we beat ourselves on those goals and you're not scoring, we needed to hang around the game a little bit tighter."
Twenty seconds into the first period, Jesper Kotkaniemi scored to get the Hurricanes on the board. Seth Jarvis and Calvin de Haan picked up assists.
Just shy of the five minute mark, the Devils went on the power play and saw some close chances in the final 30 seconds; however, were unable to convert. Seven and a half minutes into the game, Brendan Smith was sent to the box for interference and the Devils were on the penalty kill for the first time. New Jersey killed off the penalty. Despite outshooting the Hurricanes, the Devils were down 1-0 at the end of the first period.
Just over a minute into the middle frame, the Hurricanes scored again to make it 2-0. However, the play was reviewed and deemed off-sides, no goal. Not long after, the Devils went back on the penalty kill when Erik Haula was called for interference. New Jersey killed off the penalty, their second of the game.
The Devils returned to the power play not long after. With 11 seconds left on the man-advantage, the Hurricanes scored shorthanded to increase their lead to 3-0. Tonight is the second time the Devils have allowed a shorthanded goal this season. The only other instance was on Oct. 24, a 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.

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The Devils travel to Florida to take on the Panthers Wednesday night before heading home to host the Bruins on Friday.
In the final 30 seconds of the second period, Jesper Bratt was stopped on a breakaway, one of the best chances by the Devils in the middle frame. In the final 24 seconds, the Devils went back on the power play after Jesper Fast was sent off for tripping. New Jersey was unable to score before time ran out on the second period and the Devils started the third period with a minute and a half left on the man-advantage.
Despite having some chances on the power play to start the third period, the Devils were unable to score on their fourth power play of the game. Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov had several big saves to keep the Devils from scoring. In the first four minutes of the third period, Haula was sent to the box for slashing, and the Devils penalty kill killed off its third penalty of the game.
With 4:36 left in regulation, Jack Hughes scored to get the Devils on the board. Hughes has 17 goals this season, is riding a three-game points streak, and three goals in his last five games.
Just over a minute later, Carolina scored it's fourth of the night to take back a three-goal lead. Former Devil Stefan Noesen hit the puck off of Mackenzie Blackwood from behind the net and the puck bounced in.
The Hurricanes were on the power play for the final two minutes of the game, but did not score. The Devils are handed their sixth straight loss.
Some other observations from tonight's game:
The Devils have very little time to dwell on this loss as New Jersey will face the Florida Panthers Wednesday night. This is the second matchup in five days between the Devils and Panthers.
"Keep going over it. Went over it after the first period, went over it after the second period," said Ruff about fixing the Devils mistakes. "Some of it was a little bit out of desparation when you get down by a couple, when you try to push a little bit. But there's a time and place for it."
"Everyone's competitive, myself included, you want to do the best you can all the time, but sometimes it's not going to go in for you so, if you get frustrated and let your emotions get the best of you usually it just gets worse," Blackwood said on battling frustrationg. "It's just about trying to come in every day and stay cool in the games and just trying to work your way through things."