Devils edge Hurricanes, gain in wild-card race

NEWARK, N.J. -- Stefan Noesen scored with 1:33 left in the third period, and the New Jersey Devils strengthened their hold on the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference with a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

Kyle Palmieri scored two power-play goals, Pavel Zacha scored and Taylor Hall had three assists for the Devils (40-28-8). They are three points ahead of the Florida Panthers, who have two games in hand, and nine points ahead of Carolina, which has played one more game.
Keith Kinkaid (31 saves) won his third straight start for New Jersey, which trails the Columbus Blue Jackets by three points for third place in the Metropolitan Division and the Philadelphia Flyers by two points for the first wild card.
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Devils highlights]
"I was jumping on the bench (after Noesen's goal)," Hall said. "Sometimes you need to make a play, need to have a guy come through. You don't want to get to overtime and split the odds."
Kinkaid stopped Jeff Skinner (49 seconds) and Brock McGinn (8:42) on second-period breakaways.

"[Kinkaid] made those breakaway saves and really held us in, allowed us to find our game in the third period," Hall said.
Noah Hanifin, Phillip Di Giuseppe and Warren Foegele scored, and Scott Darling made 41 saves for the Hurricanes (34-32-11), who went 0-for-3 on the power play.
The Devils, 6-2-0 in their past eight games, were 2-for-4 on the power play.
Noesen's winner came off a rebound from the slot.
"The puck goes out to [Andy Greene] and comes right on my stick and those are nice, especially with a minute and a half left," Noesen said. "That's our biggest win of the year. There's a belief in the locker room that we have what it takes to make the playoffs."

Palmieri scored his second of the game off a redirection from the slot on a power play to tie it 3-3 at 11:05 of the third period. Hanifin had given the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead off a snap shot from the left hash marks at 3:39.
"Keith stood on his head and gave us a chance, special teams came through when it mattered and Noesen had a huge goal," Palmieri said. "It wasn't our greatest game, execution-wise or defense-wise, but this time of the year you have to try and find a way to do whatever it takes.
"It was an emotional game with some ups and downs but [Kinkaid] was solid and gave us a chance."
Palmieri scored a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the right circle at 14:07 of the second period to tie it 2-2.
Di Giuseppe and Foegele scored in the first period when the Hurricanes took a 2-1 lead. Di Giuseppe scored off a wrist shot from the top of the left circle at 11:41 to make it 1-1, and Foegele scored at 16:53. Foegele had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut Monday, a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators.

"I thought it was back and forth all night," Di Giuseppe said. "No matter what, you want to win. We're just trying to win for each other and obviously it was disappointing tonight, but there are a few more games."
Zacha gave the Devils a 1-0 lead when he scored off a rebound from the left circle at 5:47 of the first period. Palmieri took the initial shot from the right circle that was stopped.

Goal of the game

Noesen's goal with 1:33 remaining in the third period.

Save of the game

Kinkaid's save on Jeff Skinner 49 seconds into the second period.

Highlight of the game

Palmieri's goal at 11:05 of the third period.

They said it

"It's tough when you play games that are fast, that hard fought, and it comes down to just a few plays. Unfortunately, our power-play time was not good enough. We had a few chances and we didn't do anything with them. We gave up power-play goals and they beat us in that department. We have to be better." -- Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin
"The key I think is not getting too high and after the weekend we had (a 4-3 overtime win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday and a 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday), it's easy to kind of take the foot off the gas but tonight it was a character game. We fought and clawed and did whatever we could to get two points out of it. This is what you dream about and it's a fun time of year." -- Devils forward Kyle Palmieri

Need to know

Foegele is the third player in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history to score a goal in each of his first two NHL games (Dave Debol, 1979-80; Mike Millar, 1986-87). ... Hall has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a five-game point streak. ... Kinkaid is 12-3-0 in his past 15 decisions. ... Butcher had two assists to set the record for the most by a Devils rookie defenseman (36). Viacheslav Fetisov (1989-90) and Eric Weinrich (1990-91) each had 34. ... Because New Jersey got at least one point, the New York Rangers were eliminated from playoff contention.

What's next

Hurricanes: At the Washington Capitals on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Devils: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)