NEWARK – Nico Hischier did not hold back.

The Devils let a chance to tie the series slip away with a slow start, cold special teams and shaky play down the lineup in a 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 on Sunday.

But what bothered the Devils captain was not only the execution, but the effort early on in front of a revved-up, towel-waving Prudential Center crowd. Hischier called out his team for getting “out-competed” in the first period and holding sticks too tightly on a powerplay that’s lost its regular-season mojo.

“For me obviously, the effort wasn’t there tonight in the first period,” Hischier said. “I think that’s where the game slipped away from us. It shouldn’t happen. So we’ll be focused on having a really good start in Carolina.”

Instead of building off a Game 3 win in overtime, the Devils took a step backward on Sunday. They allowed the first three goals and got out-shot 29-22 on a day when Andrei Svechnikov scored a hat trick.

Svechnikov’s first goal came 52 seconds in when he wired a wrister past Jacob Markstrom from distance.

“That’s the second time in the series that they scored on their first shot,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “That’s a tough way to start the game. Some guys haven’t even touched the ice yet and we’re down.”

The Devils started chipping away in the second period after Hischier scored his third of the series and cut Carolina’s lead to 3-1. Timo Meier got the Devils back within one later in the period by snapping a wrister past backup Pyotr Kochetkov, who came on in injury relief.

That was as close as the Devils got.

“I think overall we could do a better job of getting pucks to the inside and getting bodies there,” Meier said. “We’re also maybe a little too cute with some plays. Look at their goals. They’ve scored from outside shots.”

Down goes Freddie

Game 4 took an unexpected turn early in the second period when Meier knocked Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen out of the game.

Redirected by a nudge in front, Meier bowled over Andersen while trying to tip in a centering pass from Ondrej Palat. The officials called a five-minute major on Meier on first look but waived off the penalty through video review.

“I’m trying to get open for a passing lane and then Svechnikov pushed me,” Meier said. “No intent there. I hope he’s not injured too bad. But yeah, nothing on my side that I could have done.”

At that point, Andersen had stopped six of seven Devils shots in the game and had a .936 save percentage for the series. The 35-year-old Dane was slow to get up in the first period after taking some contact from Justin Dowling.

Power outage

Special teams have gone from a major strength to an Achilles heel in the playoffs for the Devils. Those issues festered again on Sunday when New Jersey went 0-for-2 on the powerplay and dropped to 0-for-12 this series against the league’s best PK.

The cold spell comes after a dominant regular season when the Devils ranked third in the league on the powerplay while humming to a franchise-record 28.2%.

“We know we have a good powerplay,” Hischier said. “We’ve showed it all year. We just have to loosen up a bit and change our mindset. Obviously right now, it’s no good.”

Making matters worse is that Carolina has struck four times with the man-advantage, including their first chance in Game 4. Svechnikov stationed in front of the net and tipped in a pass from Seth Jarvis to put the Canes up 3-0 early in the second period.

Shuffling up the lineup

The Devils needed to reach way down the depth chart on Sunday with three defensemen out. Dennis Cholowski was pressed into action with Johnathan Kovacevic unable to return from a Game 3 injury. The status of Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon is also up in the air with Keefe unable to say before the game if either will return this series.

Where Carolina feasted was playing against the Devils bottom-six. Shot attempts were 12-2 Carolina with the Devils third line on and 12-5 with the Devils fourth line deployed.

“Offense has been a challenge for our team most of the season,” Keefe said. “So to expect them to all of a sudden come out and have a dominant effort offensively is probably not realistic.”

The Canes will take a 3-1 series lead back home with a chance to close out things out on Tuesday.

“It’s not done,” Hischier said. “The last win for them is the hardest.”