- The Devils line of Wood-McLeod-Bastian has been one of the brightest spots of the lineup since Wood was reinserted on May 1st in Game 7 against the Rangers. Together, they have found their magic or rough and tumble game. Their opening shift was a difference maker, skating circles around the Hurricanes setting the tone early.
- At first, it looked like Timo Meier opened the scoring for a second straight game, but it turns out the puck deflected ever so slightly off of Jack Hughes' shin pad in front of Fredrick Andersen for the Devils opening goal.
- The Devils controlled much of the first period and certainly had the most sustained pressure of the opening 20 minutes. Towards the latter half of the first period, the Hurricanes started to find more of their legs and their first period goal came off a transition play. Jaccob Slavin intercepted a stretch pass from Luke Hughes to Michael McLeod and the play turned on a dime with the Hurricanes scoring in transition off the rush. Martin Necas got his stick on a fluttering pass by Jordan Martinook to tie the game at one.
- Martinook was a big difference-maker for the Hurricanes, he had four points (1g-3a) through the opening 40 minutes. Martinook has been next to impossible to stop this series, with he is riding four straight multi-point games with 10 points in four games against the Devils.
- The Devils conceded five goals in the second period, with Carolina's transition game being a huge difference-maker. Their pressure play below the goal line gave New Jersey everything they could handle. The Hurricanes time and time again were able to force the puck behind the Devils defensemen and pressure below the goal-line causing costly turnovers.
- After 40 minutes of play, the Hurricanes had pressured the Devils into 18 giveaways, compared to their own single giveaway. By the game's end the Hurricanes had just two giveaways compared to the Devils' 26.
"That's from standing still trying to move pucks," head coach Lindy Ruff said explaining what he saw, "Standing still, making East-West plays, we're not going North, we're not supporting. It's simple as that. We had guys who just went rogue, you can call that lack of experience, even the power play turned into one man trying to do something and then the next man trying to do something. There was no support, no team effort, we're a good team when five guys play and support each other."
- The first three goals came in a span of 3:41, the fourth after 5:20.
- Akira Schmid replaced Vitek Vanecek after the Hurricanes' fourth goal of the second period. A goalie has been pulled I each of the four games of this Second Round series.
- Defenseman Ryan Graves missed a second consecutive game with an injury. Graves was hit in the boards in Game 2 in Carolina and did not finish the game. Graves has skated twice since, but has not been ready to return to the lineup.
