Devils Wrap Back-to-Back in Raleigh | PREVIEW

NEW JERSEY DEVILS (4-1-0) vs. HURRICANES (0-1-0)

New Jersey visits the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time this season, on the second half of a back-to-back.

You can watch on MSGSN or listen on the Devils Hockey Network.

Read below for your game preview and pre-game story below. Tonight's game is presented by Jaeger Lumber.

MORNING SKATE RECAP

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Devils held an optional skate ahead of their Metropolitan Division matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes. Only Stefan Noesen, Kurtis MacDermid, and Jake Allen participated. For Noesen, this is a homecoming as the Devils leading points scorer spent part of three seasons with the Hurricanes before signing with the Devils this free agency.

“I kind of revived my career here in this organization,” Noesen said about the Hurricanes. “It means a lot. The fans are so passionate, they’re awesome human beings down here. Boys over in that room are great guys, guys I still call friends and will forever call friends and I owe a lot to Rod (Brind’Amour). It’s pretty special coming back here especially for the first time.”

Keefe has discussed the strong start Noesen has had with the Devils over the first weeks of the season. Tuesday morning he discussed Noesen's impact off the ice.

“Lots of personality,” Keefe said about Noesen. “He’s a guy that’s very likable when it comes to our room. He’s got confidence too. He’s earned his way in the League. He’s come the long way or taken a long road but at the same time he’s played a lot of good hockey here in Carolina, a lot the playoffs, and all those kind of things. Given the confidence to allow his personality to come through and be himself.”

FACING THE HURRICANES

The Hurricanes have shown that they're a difficult opponent to face and have an identity for pressuring teams. They have played only one game this season, a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but are a team that often has a strong bounce back.

“They go right back to their identity right away," Noesen said about Carolina. "It’s been well established throughout the league that this is a hard place to play. You know what they’re doing, you know what’s coming and it’s hard to stop it so it’s on us to try to find a way to break that and try to turn it back on the other side.”

“They know exactly who they are and they have a lot of guys who have been there a long time,” head coach Sheldon Keefe shared about Carolina. “We should expect especially since playing that one game, they’ve been sitting on a loss here for a while, that we’ll have their very best. They’ll be energized, they’ll be fast, and all the things that they do well, which is pressuring the puck and making it hard on the opposition and we expect that to be very prevalent here today and we’re going to have to contend with that.”

THE SCOOP

The Devils arrive in Raleigh on a two-game win streak. New Jersey picked up a 5-3 win over the Capitals in Washington D.C. on Oct. 12 before securing their first franchise win over the Utah Hockey Club Monday afternoon, 3-0. Against Utah, the Devils power play found some rhythm, scoring two of the team’s three total goals on the man-advantage. Jake Allen stopped all 20 shots he faced for his first shutout as a Devil, and first since Feb. 4, 2023.

Paul Cotter leads the Devils with four goals. He has a total of five points which is second on the team. Erik Haula and Stefan Noesen are tied for the team lead with four assists, while Noesen leads the Devils with six points. Seamus Casey has stood out in his first five games in the NHL as the rookie has three goals and an assist for four total points. Casey has shown poise and a high level of confidence in his play, and has been sound defensively.

When it comes to goaltending, the Devils will split duties between their two netminders for this back-to-back. As Jake Allen played on Monday, Jacob Markstrom will get the start against the Hurricanes, head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed Saturday.

The Carolina Hurricanes are in a unique position as they’re only playing their second game of the season after their second game of the year, against the Lightning, was postponed due to Hurricane Milton. In their season opener, against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nikita Kucherov’s third period, natural hat trick put the game out of reach for Carolina. Jordan Staal has the lone Carolina goal this season and William Carrier has the Hurricanes only assist so far this season.

Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov are the Hurricanes goaltending duo. Andersen played the first game of the season for Carolina. He played 58:08 in the loss, had a 2.06 goals against average, and a .905 save percentage.

WHO’S HOT

Devils: Seamus Casey has continued to do it all, and well. He scored his third goal of the season against the Utah Hockey Club to kick off the scoring for the home team. In addition, he's had strong plays defensively that have kept him in games especially for meaningful minutes. Casey is having a strong start to his rookie campaign and has shown why the Devils drafted him 46th overall in the 2022 Draft.

Hurricanes: It's a small sample size for the Hurricanes, but Jordan Staal has the lone goal for his team through its first game. Staal is in his 19th NHL season and his 13th with Carolina.

INJURIES

Devils: L.Hughes (shoulder), Pesce (ankle), Hatakka (upper-body), Vilen (upper-body), Beckman (lower-body)

Hurricanes: Lemieux (undisclosed, IR), Fast (neck, IR), Ryan (undisclosed, IR), R. Stillman (lower-body, IR)

REGULAR-SEASON RESULTS

• Oct. 15 at Carolina
• Nov. 21 vs Carolina
• Dec. 27 vs Carolina
• Dec. 28 at Carolina

GAME NOTES

• To help combat Utah’s speed, the Devils brought a heavy style of play where they had 28 hits. Paul Cotter led the way with 8 while Ondrej Palat and Stefen Noesen had the second most hits at 4 each. Physicality by everyone has been a point of emphasis throughout training camp and the start of the season.
• New Jersey’s penalty kill continues to show up strong, as they’ve kept opponents from scoring 93.3% of the time through five games.

• Last year, Carolina had the second best power play in the NHL, scoring on 26.9% of their opportunities. They’ve only played one game; however, they didn’t score on any of their four opportunities against the Lightning to start the year.

• Paul Cotter’s four goals have him tied for second most in the NHL. Erik Haula and Stefan Noesen are two of the 15 players tied for third most assists in the league. Noesen’s six points are second to Jack Eichel, who leads the league in scoring.