The New Jersey Devils lost 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night at the Prudential Center. The Devils should be frustrated with that loss, handing three entirely avoidable goals to the Hurricanes as they architected their own demise. Additionally, a faltering power play provided no relief as the Devils squandered four consecutive opportunities to take over the game. With the loss, the Devils dropped to 22-18-2 while the Hurricanes improved to 25-14-3.
Game Recap
Period One
The Devils fell behind early after a distant shot on Jake Allen was finished off by Luke Hughes, putting the rebound into his own net. Nikolaj Ehlers was credited with the goal at 00:51. No assists were awarded on the play, since it was an own goal.
The game paused after Timo Meier caught Mark Jankowski with a follow-through, and the ice needed to be scraped of blood.
New Jersey went to the penalty kill after Dawson Mercer was tagged for hooking, but successfully killed it off.
The Devils nearly tied the game after Brandon Bussi left his net to play the puck, but he recovered and made a save on the slot shot.
The Devils stuck with it, and at 7:34, Arseny Gritsyuk found Mercer in the slot, who blasted his shot past Bussi. Jonas Siegenthaler added the secondary assist.
New Jersey had a slight edge as far as quality chances, and nearly grabbed a late lead with a redirection from the net front by Jesper Bratt that Bussi saved. The Devils surged again as the clock wound down, but Meier sent his grade-A chance just high.
The Devils were outshot 14-8 in the opening frame.
Period Two
The Devils went back to the penalty box after Dougie Hamilton was called for interference, but again, they killed it off.
Nico Hischier created a two-on-one opportunity after the penalty kill, but Bussi made the stop to keep the game knotted at one.
Bratt was tripped down by Andrei Svechnikov in New Jersey’s O-zone without a call, to the displeasure of the Prudential Center crowd and Sheldon Keefe behind the bench.
On a seemingly innocent play, Luke Hughes had another puck slide off his stick and behind Allen at 7:47, this time helped by a poke from Taylor Hall. Hall was credited with the unassisted tally.
The Devils got their first power play opportunity after Jack Hughes was high-sticked, but couldn’t get much going.
Seconds later, the Devils got another power play, but still couldn’t generate anything.
Again, Carolina was undisciplined and sent right back to the box, earning the Devils a third consecutive power play. The period expired with 13 seconds left on another uninspiring power play opportunity.
The Devils were outshot 9-6 in the second.
Period Three
New Jersey couldn’t cash in during the remaining seconds of the power play.
The Hurricanes continued their parade to the penalty box as Jordan Staal fired the puck out of play for a delay-of-game. The Devils appeared to score seconds into the man-advantage, but the net came off its moorings, leading to a review, and it was decided that there was no goal on the play.
On the ensuing face-off, Luke Hughes fired a shot from distance that made it through to Bussi, but the Devils couldn’t bury the rebound. New Jersey had six shots on net with the man-advantage, but fell to 0-4 on the night.
The Devils were tagged for a penalty just after their power play expired, but they killed it with ease.
New Jersey surged after the successful kill, spending a lot of time in the O-zone and getting pucks through to Bussi.
The Devils continued to push but, against the flow of play, Carolina grabbed a two-goal lead after Allen tried to play the puck behind the net, leading to a turnover and a goal by Logan Stankoven at 12:16. Hall had the only assist.
With four minutes to play, the Devils pulled Allen in favor of the extra attacker. Luke Hughes was tripped down with 1:30 left to play, giving the Devils a two-man advantage. It didn’t matter, as the Devils dropped the game 3-1.
The shots were even at 29 apiece in the contest.
Takeaways
Game of Mistakes
The Devils made a lot of costly mistakes against the Hurricanes, shooting themselves in the foot and throwing away two points in the standings.
Luke Hughes had a game to forget, shooting the first goal of the night into his own net and nearly putting the second in himself, with a weak stick play in front of the net.
 The first goal was a bit of misfortune, as he tried to direct the play behind the net, but instead sent the bouncing puck past Allen. The second goal against was a product of trying to do too much by cutting in front of Allen with just one hand on his stick. Hall simply had to lightly poke his stick blade to sneak the puck behind Allen.
The Devils will want the third goal back as well, which saw Allen misplay the puck behind his own net, giving the Hurricanes another easy tally as he was unable to recover in time, and the other defensemen were out of place, not expecting the turnover.
If the Devils could have removed that sloppiness from their game, it is reasonable to think they played well enough otherwise to win a 1-0 game. Nonetheless, avoidable mistakes were the root of their downfall.
Power Misplay
Despite the mistakes, the Devils had plenty of opportunities to outscore their problems. The power play hindered those efforts, going 0-5 on the night, including four failed attempts in immediate succession.
More concerning was that of the four 5-4 situations, only one looked remotely threatening. The first three attempts were largely disjointed, and the Devils struggled even to enter the zone, let alone generate any offense.
Carolina played a very undisciplined game, and the Devils had ample opportunity to take control of the contest, but the power play failed time and time again, wasting offensive chances and giving the Hurricanes momentum.
Up Next
The Devils look to get back on track on Tuesday night when they take on the New York Islanders on Long Island.
The Islanders sit second in the Metropolitan Division with a 23-15-4 record. They are 5-4-1 in their past ten contests, most recently defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime.
This is the third of four meetings between the Devils and Islanders this season. The Devils are looking for their first win over New York, having dropped the first contest 3-2 in overtime on November 10th and the second match 2-1 on December 23rd.
The Devils have struggled mightily against divisional opponents, and will also look to right that ship on Tuesday.
Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+ and Hulu.
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