Devils Excellent Effort Goes Unrewarded, Lose to Canes in OT | GAME STORY

RALEIGH, NC - The New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes traded chances all night long on Saturday. The vigor with which both teams competed made for a tight, high-intensity, nail-biter game.

Vitek Vanecek made 21 saves on 21 shots through the opening 40 minutes of play and Carolian’s Pyotr Kochetkov made 23 saves on 23 shots after two periods setting up a third period showdown between the Devils and Canes. 

The third period featured more of the same, Vanecek and Kochetkov trading saves, the Devils and Canes penalty killers trading successes. As far as a 60-minute effort, the Devils put together their strongest performance of the season, getting their chances, playing hard against the walls, and a dialed-in commitment to the defensive side of the game. The Devils did not take their foot off the gas a single second of the game. 

With time dwindling down in overtime, Sebastian Aho batted a rebound out of the air and past Vanecek for the lone goal of the game. 

"Zero-zero going into overtime, I thought we had a lot of chances in the game, but so did they," Timo Meier, who logged 17:21, said, "It was a very tight game, there wasn’t a lot of room out there, it was playoff type of hockey out there. We would have loved to have the second point but I think we can definitely build on this game.”

The Devils pick up a single point in Carolina in the 1-0 loss.

"I thought we played one heck of a hockey game," head coach Lindy Ruff said, "As a group we skated as well, I thought our detail was just real good, we took away time and space, we kept our feet moving in the O-Zone, we generated the opportunities we needed to generate, we just didn’t finish.”

After regulation, the Devils had put up 33 shots, the Canes 31 when it all came down to sudden death. 

Despite the loss, there wasn't much hanging of heads in the locker room post-game. Sometimes that's how games go, but this certainly wasn't for a lack of effort or lack of attention to structure.

"It was our attention to detail and wanting to be in a defensive position, not give up that unlucky bounce," Kevin Bahl assessed, "That was one of the biggest things, defensively I thought we were really structured. Staying above guys, they maybe had one breakaway, maybe they had one 2-on-1 and Luke shut it down.”

Here are some observations from the game:

• Nico Hischier had three of the Devils 10 shots in the first period, including two high-danger chances right in front of Canes netminder Pyotr Kotchetkov, one on the power play and another at 5-on-5. Both chances came right at the crease,

• The Devils power play went 0-for-2 in the first period, bringing the team’s drought to a stretch of 20 consecutive power plays without converting. The stretch continued going 0-for-1 in the second period and again 0-for-1 in the third.

On the flip side, the penalty killers went 2-for-2.

"Tonight we had some good looks, it’s just a matter of time if you keep going, keep working on it that the bounce is going to go your way and that’s going to be important. Special teams, this time of the season, it’s important," Timo Meier said, "They’ve got a good PK, credit to them, but we did a lot of good stuff tonight.”

• Jack Hughes had eight shots through his first five periods back from injury, heading into the third period against Carolina. In the opening 40 minutes, Hughes factored in four shots, with another three in the final 20 minutes.

Hughes, on Thursday night, playing for the first time since Jan. 5, registered four shots on net.

His total through two games back reached 11 shots.

• The Devils forced the Hurricanes into 31 giveaways on Saturday night, the most the well-structured Canes have conceded all season long. 

“We talked about just constantly being on the puck and I thought our guys did a good job," Ruff said, "We stayed on the right side of the puck and we were on it. So, when you’re on the right side, they’ve got to come through you and you force turnovers. Sometimes we got on the wrong side, like the Calgary game we had a couple of D-Zone plays where we got on the wrong side. When you’re on the right side, you give yourself an opportunity to defend, if you make the right play you give yourself an opportunity to go the other way.”

• With a 0-0 draw heading into the third period, the Devils were in unchartered territory this season. It marked the first time during the 2023-24 year when the Devils went into the third period with a 0-0 scoreline.

• With 11:18 to play in the third period, Vitek Vanecek made a key save to keep the game tied at zero when Jordan Martinook broke free at the opposing blueline, with speed for a breakaway opportunity. Colin Miller trailed on the play, but Martinook had the speed built up and was able to take a wrist shot on Vanecek who made the timely save, his 26th of the game.

"He played a great game for us," Ruff said, "I thought we played a really good first period to let him get into the game, didn’t face a lot in the first, but he made some quality saves. And you know with the talent (the Canes) have up front you’re going to face some opportunities but I thought our defending, our attention to detail around the netfront was good and when we had a breakdown V made a good save.”

• The Devils penalty killers came up with an enormous kill of the Carolina power play when Ondrej Palat took a penalty for a high-stick on Jordan Martinook. The penalty killers held the Hurricanes to just two shots on their power play and John Marino came up with a massive swipe of the puck early on the penalty kill when a puck trickled past Vanecek. Marino swooped in to clear the puck into the corner and out of any danger, once again keeping the game tied 0-0.