Vanecek makes 32 saves, Devils shut out Hurricanes

NEWARK, N.J. -- Vitek Vanecek made 32 saves for his third shutout of the season, and Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists for the New Jersey Devils in a 3-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Prudential Center on Sunday.

Vanecek, who was making his first start in three games, has nine shutouts in his NHL career.
"I'm really happy for that game and I hope I can start rolling again," Vanecek said. "This is a really good group. The defensemen are really good, and the forwards are scoring goals, so the goalie has to make the saves to help them."

Jesper Bratt scored two goals for the Devils (44-16-6), who are 7-1-1 in their past nine games.
New Jersey moved into a tie with Carolina, which has one game in hand, for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
"I think we feel like we've been doing a good job and we've worked extremely hard for this," Bratt said. "It's been a lot of hard, tough years. That brings us even more motivation that we want even more. I think when we're playing a game like this, we just get excited for what's ahead."
Pyotr Kochetkov made 20 saves for the Hurricanes (43-14-8), who were shut out for the second time in two days.
"You tip your hat, but we just handed them two points," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "That's what happened, and then maybe they didn't have to do anything after that. We played hard all night. I thought we were in control. You just can't give a good team like that (that much)."
Carolina played without forward Andrei Svechnikov, who sustained a lower-body injury in a 4-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
"We're playing hard and we're getting our chances," Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. "We just got to just continue and get those chances and play the right way to get those chances. So, I don't know if it's a slump, necessarily, but we'll get out of it."

Hughes gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 6:44 of the first period. After stealing the puck from Calvin de Haan above the left circle, Hughes skated down and snapped a shot five-hole on Kochetkov.
"It's a big one for us," said Hughes, who ended a six-game goal drought. "They're a good team over there, so for us to tie them (in the standings), that's good. We're going to have a big push here the last few games."
Hughes' goal came 36 seconds after Vanecek denied Stefan Noesen on a shot from the left hash marks on a 2-on-1.
"We've missed goaltending in the past, and Vanecek's come in here and has done a great job. And recently, [Akira Schmid] has done a really good job, too," Hughes said.
Bratt made it 2-0 at 8:47 with a snap shot from the bottom of the left circle off a give-and-go with Hughes down left wing.
"You really want to bring all the energy you have and really treat it as a playoff game," Bratt said. "It was kind of a preseason playoff game for us to really get into the heat and really play those full 60 minutes. This is a really good test for us and we responded very well."

Bratt scored again at 4:31 of the second period to extend the lead to 3-0.
Hughes forced Kochetkov into an errant pass, stole the puck, and took the initial shot at the left post. The rebound then slid in the slot to Bratt, who took two swipes to score while on his stomach.
Vanecek stopped a snap shot by Sebastian Aho alone in the slot one minute later, one of his 14 saves in the second.
"I thought we did a lot of good things in the game," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "We made some mistakes, and 'V' made some big saves. I thought at the start the game Jack had great legs, and Bratt was on his game and, offensively, that's probably all we needed."
NOTES: Carolina hadn't been shut out in consecutive games since Jan. 10-13, 2014. ... New Jersey forward Dawson Mercer had his 12-game point streak end. ... Hughes had his 27th multipoint game of the season, tying Taylor Hall (2017-18) for the most in a season in Devils/Colorado Rockies/Kansas City Scouts history.