Round 1 Preview: Canes vs. Devils

RALEIGH, NC. - The Carolina Hurricanes' road to a Stanley Cup begins with a first-round meeting against the New Jersey Devils.

It will be the second time in the last three seasons that these two organizations will meet in the postseason, and the sixth time in the history of both teams.

Carolina arrives at the series after a 47-30-5 regular season, finishing second in the Metropolitan Division. Their seventh consecutive playoff berth will start with them having home ice advantage for the fifth time in a row.

New Jersey comes to Raleigh as the third seed from the Metro, which they earned with a 42-33-7 record. In his first year with the team, bench boss Sheldon Keefe has led the team to the playoffs after they were on the outside looking in last year.

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Revisiting The Regular Season Meetings...

• October 15: Jackson Blake bagged his first NHL goal in the third period to help the Canes notch their first win of the season, 4-2 over New Jersey at Lenovo Center.
• November 21: Carolina was "flat" during its second game in as many nights and came up short in a 4-2 loss to the Devils in Newark.
• December 27: Jacob Markstrom stopped 29 out of 31 shots faced for New Jersey, giving his team a 4-2 victory at Prudential Center.
• December 28: The Canes scored five times in the final 21:30 to pull past the Devils, 5-2.

As if a 2-2 season series split doesn't show how close the season series was, the total head-to-head goals were 13-12 in favor of Carolina.

Jack Roslovic led the Canes with five points in those four games, including a three-point performance on December 28. For New Jersey, Jesper Bratt had a whopping seven points in four games, featuring a three-point night in Newark on November 21.

Since the two teams last met, Carolina went 25-17-4, good for a win percentage of .587, while New Jersey has the third-worst win percentage in the Eastern Conference (.465), going 18-21-4.

On The Other Side...

New Jersey has been bitten by the injury bug in 2025, and they arrive at the series without star forward Jack Hughes, who suffered a season-ending injury in March.

Not only have they been without Hughes, but former Hurricane Dougie Hamilton, fellow defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler, and number one netminder Jacob Markstrom have all missed their share of time following the turn of the calendar. While Hughes will not play, Hamilton and Markstrom are good to go and available for the series.

Someone who managed to stay healthy and have a great deal of success this season was Jesper Bratt. Producing a career-best 88 points, 34 of them came on the power play.

Another player who has been holding it down is another former Hurricane, Brett Pesce. In his first year with New Jersey, he led all skaters during the regular season, playing an average of 21:19 per night.

Special Teams During The Regular Season...

Carolina's Power Play: 18.7% (25th)

Carolina's Penalty Kill: 83.6% (1st)

It's been business as usual for Carolina's league-leading penalty kill all season long. They've sat atop the league in that category since the 2018-19 season and chipped in with 10 shorthanded goals this season.

On the other hand, Carolina's power play started the year red-hot, but has been ice cold since Jan. 1. Just 12.4% in 2025, only the Anaheim Ducks (11.1%) have had less success.

New Jersey's Power Play: 28.2% (3rd)

New Jersey's Penalty Kill: 82.7% (2nd)

Even without some key pieces, New Jersey's power play has kept rolling right along (30.6% since Mar. 1). Former Hurricane Stefan Noesen ranked second on the team with his 11 goals on the man advantage.

On the kill, defensemen Brendan Dillon and Jonathan Kovacevic are two of just 33 players in the NHL this season to log over 200 shorthanded minutes.

In Net...

Carolina: Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov

Since Frederik Andersen returned from a lower-body injury on Jan. 20, the Canes split the load in the crease equally, rotating between the two for the final 36 games of the regular season with no break in pattern.

The Canes deployed the same approach for the last month and a half of the regular season last year, but when it got to the playoffs, the team elected to ride Andersen. In 10 postseason games, he had an .895 save percentage and a Game 6 third-period against the New York Rangers that he would like back.

So, the million-dollar question is, will the Canes continue the rotation, or will Rod Brind'Amour and Goaltending Coach Paul Schonfelder elect to lean on one or the other?

It is also worth mentioning that Andersen did not play in any of the Canes' four games against New Jersey this year. Kochetkov played two, while Spencer Martin and Dustin Tokarski split the others.

New Jersey: Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen

Jacob Markstrom suffered an injury in January that kept him out of action until March, but even with that time on the sidelines, he still played 49 games this season.

Before the injury, Markstrom's first season as a Devil was going swell, posting a .912 save percentage in his first 36 games. Since returning on Mar. 2? A concerning .869, which ranks as the third-worst among NHL goaltenders who have played at least 10 games during that time.

On the other hand, Jake Allen has a much better .911 SV% during that time, albeit just in an eight-game sample size.

Players To Watch...

Carolina: Seth Jarvis

The fourth-year forward led the Canes in scoring from American Thanksgiving through the end of the regular season, and finished with 20 points in his last 17 games.

A 30-goal scorer for a second consecutive year, the 2020 first-round pick produced 67 points again this season, matching his career-best, which he set last year.

Playing on the team's "top line" with Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake, #24 is also counted on to play a key role on special teams. Jarvis had 19 power-play points this season and finished tied for second among all skaters in the NHL with his five shorthanded goals and seven shorthanded points.

New Jersey: Nico Hischier

The first overall pick in 2017 has stepped up in a major way while the Devils have dealt with their injuries, producing 17 points in the Devils' final 13 games of the season.

Also, a team-leading 55.6% in the dot, Hischier's 18.7% shooting percentage is almost 4% higher than any other season of his career.

Now 26 years old, it will be his third trip to the postseason in his NHL career.

How They See It...

Sebastian Aho on the Devils...

"They're a fast team. They've got skill up front. They play well with the puck. They move it up really quick and have speedy, speedy forwards. We've got to be aware of that. Every team knows each other, we've played four times already and a lot of times in previous years. We just have to get to our game and trust what we have here and what got us here."

Jordan Staal on the belief of the locker room as they embark on this journey...

"We’ve got unbelievable players. We’ve got two goalies who are playing great. We’ve got the consistency in how we play and the talent to pull it all off. Obviously, a lot of things have to line up. You’d see the same team win every year if it was easy, but it’s not. To put it all together, a lot has to click, but we have the players, the system and the coach to do it. I’m excited to see us try and pull it off.”

Jordan Martinook describing the feel of playoff time in Raleigh...

“The weather’s warm. The fans are rowdy. The games mean so much. It’s like you get a whole new burst of energy. It’s like you’ve drank five coffees and 10 Red Bulls every morning before a playoff game. I don’t know how to describe it. Your life gets taken over by it."

Where To Watch Every Game...

Can't make it to Lenovo Center, or looking for a place to watch the road games in the series? Visit any Carolina Ale House in the state to watch the Canes all throughout the playoffs.

FanDuel Sports Network South will also broadcast every game of Round 1. View the complete schedule and broadcast info here.