Punchless Power Play, Svechnikov Hat-Trick Leaves Devils on Brink of Elimination

NEWARK–Timo Meier, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt can’t do it all. And when the New Jersey Devils power play goes scoreless (again), it’s going to spell defeat in a low-scoring series with the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Devils remained without the services of Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon on Sunday. And the adversity only intensified when Johnathan Kovacevic wasn’t available due to injury as well.

Upon puck drop, New Jersey pressured Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen with two shots quickly following the opening draw.

However, the Hurricanes quickly settled the puck in New Jersey’s end of the ice. Andrei Svechnikov opened the scoring just 52 seconds into the first period on Carolina’s first shot, giving the Devils’ rival an early 1-0 lead.

The Hurricanes proceeded to hem the Devils in their own end of the ice for the majority of the first half of the opening frame. New Jersey struggled to clear the puck from the defensive end of the ice, turned over pucks and lost their battles in the neutral zone, and played very little minutes in the offensive zone, accruing just one shot since the opening 50 seconds of puck drop.

The Hurricanes then doubled their lead after Stefan Noesen turned the puck over at the New Jersey blueline. Jaccob Slavin skated the puck below the dot at the left circle, and sniped the puck over Jacob Markstrom’s right shoulder to give Carolina a 2-0 lead.

With 30 seconds remaining on the clock in the opening frame, Dougie Hamilton took an interference penalty that carried into the first intermission.

When the puck dropped for the second, it took Svechnikov just 42 seconds to convert on his second goal of the game, giving the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead.

The Devils answered just about two minutes later, however. Timo Meier skated the puck below the Hurricanes’ goal line and passed the puck toward the Carolina crease. Ondrej Palat redirected the rubber to Nico Hischier in the slot, who scored on Andersen blocker side, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

Shortly after the Devils goal, Andersen sustained an injury and was pulled from the game. On a Devils drive, Meier was pushed into the Carolina crease by Svechnikov that left Andersen in pain.

After initially giving Meier a five-minute major as a result of the incident, a review of the play overturned the major and there was no penalty.

Pyotr Kochetkov replaced Andersen amid Carolina’s 3-1 lead.

With a cold goaltender in net, Meier threw a puck on goal from the far right wall, catching Kochetkov unprepared for the shot. The Devils forward scored, cutting the Carolina lead to 3-2.

New Jersey killed an early penalty by Hamilton to start the third period, and took control of the play at even strength.

However, the Hurricanes choked the Devils through the neutral zone and minimized New Jersey’s scoring chances.

With time winding down in the final frame, Brent Burns threw a puck at Markstrom that dribbled through his pads, and dribbled over the goal line to double Carolina’s lead to 4-2.

The Devils pulled Markstrom with over three minutes left in regulation for the extra attacker. An errant pass by Hamilton from the Devils’ end to the neutral zone ended up on Svechnikov’s stick, and he completed the hat-trick to seal Carolina’s 5-2 victory.

The Hurricanes took a 3-1 advantage in the series as they head back to Carolina for Game 5.

On two power play chances Sunday afternoon, the Devils went 0/2, adding to their scoreless stretch on the man advantage that is 0/12.

Markstrom made 24 saves on 28 shots, and allowed one goal on the penalty kill on five shots.

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