Recap: Second Period Scoring Flurry Pushes Canes Past Devils

NEWARK, NJ. -The Carolina Hurricanes are headed back to Raleigh with a commanding 3-1 series lead over the New Jersey Devils after a 6-1 thrashing in Tuesday's Game 4.

The Story

After falling on Sunday and allowing a whopping eight goals, the Canes were hoping to emulate what they did in their first-round series against the New York Islanders - respond to each loss with a victory.
Inserting Mackenzie MacEachern into the lineup in place of Jesse Puljujarvi and turning back to Frederik Andersen between the pipes, the group had their hands full early though.
New Jersey burst out of the gates with pace, taking control of the game rapidly. Just 1:55 in they capitalized on a horrid turnover by Carolina in their own end, establishing the game's opening lead thanks to Jack Hughes.
The Devils would go on to dictate much of the opening 20, but inside the final three minutes of the stanza, Martin Necas was able to halt the home club's momentum.
Sending the game to the first intermission tied, Necas' first goal of the night would go on to become perhaps the most important tally of the game.
The goal brought Carolina's offense to life, leading into what would be a borderline unfathomable five-goal middle period.
Beginning with a second tally for Necas, the go-ahead marker was nearly identical to his first, putting home a fumbling puck in transition.
Giving the Metropolitan Division Champions their first lead of the night, Brett Pesce then doubled it just 2:25 later.

Serving as the second in the batch of pucks past Vitek Vanecek, it took all of 76 seconds for the next one to find twine. A patented swarming forecheck led to a turnover in New Jersey's end and it was then Jesper Fast's turn to join the scoring party.
Up next? Brent Burns, 1:39 following.

Moving the score to 5-1, Devils head coach Lindy Ruff had seen enough, making an in-game goaltending change for the third time this series. Vitek Vanecek made his way to the New Jersey bench, and in came rookie Akira Schmid, who was pulled in both Games 1 & 2.
With the Prudential Center crowd completely removed from being a factor in the game, the home fans would go as far as booing their team off the ice at the end of 40 minutes. However, before they could get to that, the Canes had one more goal in them.
Perhaps the best player on the ice all night, Jordan Martinook, added a highlight reel snipe to conclude the scoring frenzy.
Leading by five at the end of two periods, the damage was done for Carolina.
The third period would go on to be a "run out the clock" effort, eventually bringing the final horn of the evening and sending the Canes back to Raleigh with an opportunity to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

They Said It

Rod Brind'Amourproviding his take on the contest, post-game...
"It didn't start the way we wanted it to, but our guys do a good of refocusing. All the time. All year. They capitalize on an early mistake we made and it's what they do. But we limited our mistakes the rest of the game and that was the key."
Jordan Martinooktalking about his three-point evening and providing an assessment of things...
"It's good to contribute, but being up 3-1 going home is the main thing. After Sunday we obviously weren't happy. We wanted to come out and play our style. The first five minutes we were on our heels again, but once we settled in again we got to our game. You could see it tonight."
Martin Necasspeaking on the team's depth and it being the third game of the series where 10+ players record at least one point...
"The great thing about our team, and I feel like it's a big part of winning teams in the playoffs, is that some guys might score, and other nights you have all four lines scoring. It's huge in these games. It's part of winning games here in the playoffs. We're all happy about that. For the other team, it's not just about taking care of one or two guys. They have to take care of all of our lines and that's huge for us."

Bonus Notes

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What's Next?

The Canes will fly home immediately post-game. Select players and Rod Brind'Amour will meet with the media on Wednesday, but the team will not practice before Thursday's Game 5.
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