Hurricanes rally past Devils in shootout for 11th win in row

The Carolina Hurricanes extended their franchise-record winning streak to 11 games by rallying for a 5-4 shootout victory against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday.

Derek Stepan scored two goals for the Hurricanes (25-6-6), who also extended their point streak to 17 games (15-0-2), the longest in the NHL this season. Antti Raanta made 24 saves to win his sixth straight start.
"That's not how we've played during the streak," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We've been a little more consistent with our play, shift in and shift out. We saw it in spurts here, but overall, that's the reason we've been able to go on this run."

Andrei Svechnikov scored the only goal of the shootout while Raanta stopped Tomas Tatar, Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes.
Bratt had two goals and an assist for the Devils (23-11-3), who have lost three of four and are 2-7-2 in their past 11. Mackenzie Blackwood made 43 saves.
"Those are two points I thought we could have had for sure," Blackwood said. "Just a tough finish to the game. We got one [point] but it's not what we were looking for."
Carolina held New Jersey to 28 shots on goal, including seven each in the first and third periods.
"It was tough to generate," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "Their gaps were incredible. A heck of a battle to get where we were, and at the end, we got a point. We'd like more."
Bratt tied it 2-2 at 6:15 of the third period when he beat Raanta five-hole off the rush from the left face-off circle.
Stepan put the Hurricanes back in front 3-2 at 8:04 on a rebound at the right post, but Nico Hischier tied it 3-3 at 8:38 on a wraparound after New Jersey won a puck battle in the corner.
"We gave some really uncharacteristic turnovers and things we don't normally do," Brind'Amour. "Against this team, you can't do that. They just came down and, boom. I like the resiliency though."
Bratt put the Devils ahead 4-3 at 13:48 when he scored off the rush with a wrist shot from the high slot.
"I felt like it wasn't a bad time to shoot," Bratt said. "Nico made a good screen and helped me out to make the goalie not see the puck. Luckily it went in."

Martin Necas tied it 4-4 at 15:33 with a wrist shot from between the circles on a power play.
Stepan scored on a 2-on-1 to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 8:00 of the second period. Stefan Noesen slipped a backhand pass around sliding New Jersey defenseman Ryan Graves to Stepan, who went backhand to forehand for a tap-in at the right post.
Hughes tied it 1-1 at 16:19 when he took a feed from Dawson Mercer in the neutral zone, got behind Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin, and cut to the net before scoring on a backhand. The goal ended Raanta's shutout streak at 163:52.
Sebastian Aho put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1 at 18:14 with a short-handed goal. Aho forced a turnover in the neutral zone moments before Blackwood fanned on a clearing attempt between the face-off circles, leaving the Carolina forward an open net to shoot at.
"If you're going to ask your goalie to play pucks, you're going to see those mistakes," Ruff said. "When a goalie has to play the puck with the tools he has, that's going to happen. He tried to make the right play."
NOTES: New Jersey allowed a season-high 47 shots on goal. … Bratt has 10 multipoint games this season. … Noesen has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past nine games. … It was Stepan's first multigoal game with the Hurricanes. … Raanta's shutout streak is the third-longest in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history, behind Trevor Kidd (219:21 in 1997-98) and Kevin Weekes (183:16 in 2003-04).