![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP26088010652623-678x381.jpg\" "\\"Brandon")
\nDevils forward Dawson Mercer and Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi watch the puck during Carolina\u2019s 5-2 win Saturday in Raleigh. (Karl DeBlaker \/ AP Photo)<\/p>\n
\nDevils forward Dawson Mercer and Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi watch the puck during Carolina\u2019s 5-2 win Saturday in Raleigh. (Karl DeBlaker \/ AP Photo)<\/p>\n
RALEIGH \u2014 The Hurricanes scored three times in just over four minutes in the second period en route to a 5-2 win Saturday over the visiting Devils.<\/p>\n
Nikolaj Ehlers, Jackson Blake and Jordan Staal scored in succession starting just past the midway point of regulation to turn Carolina\u2019s one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead. From there, the Devils had no answer as they were swept in the four-game season series.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot too happy with our first period,\u201d Ehlers said. \u201cAfter that, I think we came back and played really well in the second and finished it off the right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes evened the game by scoring on their first power play opportunity of the night.<\/p>\n
The second unit came on the ice for the second half of the power play, and Taylor Hall entered the zone up the left wing and passed to Alexander Nikishin at the right point. Nikishin sent the puck to Ehlers in the left circle, and his shot went off the far post and in to score his 23rd goal of the year and tie the game at 10:10 of the middle frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about being creative when you get that puck to the net and create some chaos, get the rebound, that\u2019s when they\u2019re out of place,\u201d Ehlers said of working with both power play units. \u201cSo for me, it\u2019s been going pretty well for our power play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carolina then got to work at even strength.<\/p>\n
Blake forced a turnover in the Devils\u2019 zone, got the puck back and cut to toward the net. He waited out New Jersey defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler, who went down to take away a pass, and slid the puck past Jacob Markstrom (29 saves) for his 21st goal of the season at 13:48 of the second.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been our best line for sure,\u201d Hurricanes coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour said of Blake and Hall being centered by Logan Stankoven. \u201cAnd in all aspects. They\u2019re not just producing, they\u2019re playing well away from the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes added to their lead 85 seconds later when Jordan Martinook won a board battle and got the puck to Ehlers. Ehlers through the puck toward the goal mouth, and Jordan Staal jousted it in for his 19th goal of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just trying to throw it into an area where he could get it,\u201d Ehlers said. \u201cIt was a little too far ahead of him, but it was a nice tip. So it worked out great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most encouraging performance of the night game from Carolina goalie Brandon Bussi.<\/p>\n
Bussi had allowed 24 goals in his six starts since the Olympic break. But after snapping a three-game losing streak with an overtime win March 20 in Toronto, Bussi returned to his record-breaking form Saturday.<\/p>\n
He made several key saves when the game was tight and allowed fewer than three goals for the first time since Feb. 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, the last stretch was a combination of some bad bounces and, yeah, I didn\u2019t play as well as I would have liked,\u201d Bussi said. \u201cSo when you have both of those going your way, it\u2019s not a good recipe. But I felt good the last few games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think some pucks have found some holes, and I feel like if I keep playing the way I have, at least the last two games, I\u2019m going to continue to have more success.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Devils did score first to take the lead.<\/p>\n
Carolina killed off consecutive penalties in the middle of the first period, but the Devils still managed to score the lone goal of the opening frame.<\/p>\n
New Jersey captain Nico Hischier forced a turnover in the Devils\u2019 zone and then sent Dawson Mercer ahead on a 2-on-1 rush. Mercer fed across to Timo Meier, who had plenty of time to score into the net for a 1-0 New Jersey lead with just under three minutes left in the first.<\/p>\n
But other than Evgenii Dadonov\u2019s goal \u2014 his first point in 20 games this season \u2014 in garbage time, New Jersey was unable to rattle Bussi.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not a bunch, but there was a few that could have went and changed the whole outcome of the game,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said of Bussi, who improved to 27-6-1 on the season and his career. \u201cSo he was solid. That\u2019s what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notes: Seth Jarvis scored an empty-net goal to reach 30 goals for the third straight season. \u2026 Shayne Gostisbehere returned after missing nine games with an injury and had a third period goal and an assist. \u2026 Forwards Nicolas Deslauriers and Jesperi Kotkaniemi and defenseman Mike Reilly were healthy scratches for Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devils forward Dawson Mercer and Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi watch the puck during Carolina\u2019s 5-2 win Saturday in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5107],"tags":[194,29,5176,5,195,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-528562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-hurricanes","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","10":"tag-carolinahurricanes","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-hurricanes","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116310018179388396","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}