3 Keys: Hurricanes at Devils, Game 4 of Eastern 2nd Round

(1M) Hurricanes at (2M) Devils

Eastern Conference Second Round, Game 4

Carolina leads best-of-7 series, 2-1

7 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SN, TVAS

NEWARK, N.J. --Timo Meier knows it won't be easier now that the New Jersey Devils have established momentum entering Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Carolina Hurricanes.

"They've been in the playoffs, got some guys who know how to react," Meier said. "If we thought that Game 3 was hard, Game 4 will be even harder because they're definitely not happy with their performance, so there going to come out even harder [Tuesday].

"We have to be ready right from the start."

The Devils will try to even the series in what would be the fourth straight victory by the home team.

RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Devils series coverage]

The Devils won 8-4 in Game 3 by winning the 50-50 battles and outshooting (31-23) and outscoring (6-1) the Hurricanes at 5-on-5. Carolina had outscored New Jersey 8-2 at 5-on-5 in Games 1 and 2.

"We understand we didn't have our best, but even if we had our best what would that matter coming into [Tuesday]? Nothing," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "You have to prepare and get ready to play your best. What's done is done. We've got to try to find a way to win a hockey game."

The Devils are 1-10 (.091) when trailing 3-1 in a best-of-7 series, including 1-4 when starting on the road. The Hurricanes are 5-0 when leading a best-of-7 series 3-1, including 4-0 when starting at home.

Here are 3 keys to Game 4:

1. Better goaltending

If goalie Frederik Andersen starts a fifth straight game for the Hurricanes, he'll need to be better than he was in Game 3.

Andersen is 3-0 with a 2.03 goals-against average and .925 save percentage in his past four games, but he was pulled less than a minute into the second period of Game 3 after allowing four goals on 12 shots. Pyotr Kochetkov, who was making his debut this postseason, got the loss after he allowed four goals on 22 shots in relief. The status of Antti Raanta is unknown after he missed the past two games because of an illness. He practiced Monday but remains questionable.

"We really like both of our goalies here, all three of them really, for that matter," Carolina forward Jordan Staal said. "There's something to be said for rest for goalies too. It seems like there's more and more teams that are leaning on two rather than one."

2. Matchup advantage at home

Each coach has been able to get the desired matchups on home ice so far to dominate the visiting team. The question is, can the Devils hold serve?

New Jersey opted to use 11 forwards and seven defensemen in Game 3 to get the matchups it wanted on the last line change. That meant inserting rookie defenseman Luke Hughes, who had two assists in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut.

"It's just more playing time for your top nine [forwards]," Ruff said when asked about the possibility of going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for Game 4. "I think this is the time of year where you're (playing) every other day. You're really not practicing hard. You're just worried about playing the game. Everybody from Ondrej Palat to everybody else's minutes can go up and you got to really put the game in their hands."

3. Regaining momentum

Carolina would like to regain the momentum it had after Game 2. New Jersey wants to keep whatever momentum it has gained, particularly after having so much success in utilizing its speed game.

"The first two games we kind of did that to them," Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said. "We were more in their end, and they were maybe more tired to try to counterattack. We just spent way too much time in our defensive zone [in Game 3]. We have a pretty good idea of what we need to do."

Ruff knows the Hurricanes will be set on establishing their game early and often, and the Devils need to be ready for that.

"We issued a warning on Monday morning about how hard Carolina will play [Tuesday]," Ruff said. "They're a good team. They proved that in Games 1 and 2 how good a team they are and how hard they can play. I think they're going to feel like we did after Game 2, that they need to play better, they have more to offer. We got to be ready to elevate our game at the same time."

Hurricanes projected lineup

Stefan Noesen -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis

Jordan Martinook -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Jesper Fast

Jack Drury -- Jordan Staal -- Martin Necas

Derek Stepan -- Paul Stastny -- Jesse Puljujarvi

Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns

Brady Skjei -- Brett Pesce

Shayne Gostisbehere -- Jalen Chatfield

Frederik Andersen

Pyotr Kochetkov

Scratched:Calvin de Haan, Dylan Coghlan, Mackenzie MacEachern, Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev, Jamieson Rees, Ryan Suzuki, Max Lajoie, Zach Sawchenko

Injured: Teuvo Teravainen (broken hand), Antti Raanta (illness)

Devils projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Nico Hischier -- Jesper Bratt

Timo Meier -- Jack Hughes -- Dawson Mercer

Erik Haula -- Michael McLeod -- Tomas Tatar

Miles Wood -- Nathan Bastian

Jonas Siegenthaler -- Dougie Hamilton

Luke Hughes -- Damon Severson

Ryan Graves -- John Marino

Brendan Smith

Vitek Vanecek

Akira Schmid

Scratched: Yegor Sharangovich, Jesper Boqvist, Mackenzie Blackwood, Curtis Lazar, Kevin Bahl

Injured: None

Status report

The Hurricanes did not have a morning skate. ... MacEachern replaced Puljujarvi on the fourth line for Carolina at practice Monday. ... Skjei did not practice Monday but is expected to play. ... Graves missed Game 3 because of an upper-body injury but participated in the morning skate and could return.