Hurricanes close out regular season with sixth win in row, defeat Devils

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes finished the regular season with their sixth straight win, 6-3 against the New Jersey Devils at PNC Arena on Thursday.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a goal and two assists after missing five games with a lower-body injury, and Antti Raanta made 27 saves for the Hurricanes (54-20-8), who haven't lost since April 16, a 7-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
"It's been a real special year," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We had a few games that didn't go our way, but there was never stretches where it was bad. It's hard to play at this top level. The League is so good. To be able to look back and go, 'Man, that's a pretty darn good record.' And we did it the right way."

Fabian Zetterlund, Jesper Bratt and Jimmy Vesey scored for the Devils (27-45-9), who are 0-3-2 in the past five games and end their season on Friday at home against the Detroit Red Wings.
Andrew Hammond allowed six goals on 30 shots before being replaced in the third period by Jon Gillies, who made six saves.
"If you look at some of the puck play, puck management hurt us on a few goals," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "You evaluate your players against the best teams. We failed a test tonight. There's a few plays we left out there, but I thought we also handed them a few too many."
The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead at 4:44 of the first period when Ethan Bear's wrist shot from the right point redirected off the stick of Devils forward Pavel Zacha.
Martin Necas made it 2-0 at 5:33, tipping in Ian Cole's shot from the left point.
Kotkaniemi extended it to 3-0 at 12:53 after Necas intercepted Devils defenseman Ty Smith's pass from behind the net and fed him for a tap-in at the right post.
"A couple good, lucky bounces there," Kotkaniemi said. "It's nice to get a couple goals there early. It sure helps to gain confidence a little bit. It was actually easier than I thought to get back on the pace."
Zetterlund cut the lead to 3-1 at 13:55 off the rush before Teuvo Teravainen made it 4-1 at 17:47 of the second period. He picked up the puck off a face-off win by Vincent Trocheck and scored on a wrist shot from the high slot.
Carolina took a 5-1 lead at 3:14 of the third period after Seth Jarvis stickhandled past two New Jersey defenders and centered to Steven Lorentz for his eighth of the season.
"Playing with two unbelievably skilled guys like 'Jarvy' and [Sebastian Aho], you've just got to go to the net and good things happen," Lorentz said. "I was going to try to do the spadework and let those guys' skill take over."

Jordan Martinook redirected a shot by Brady Skjei at 7:32 to extend the score to 6-1.
Bratt made it 6-2 at 14:17 off a cross-ice pass from Nolan Foote and Vesey scored on his own rebound at 15:44 for the 6-3 final.
"I felt pretty good, obviously a little rust," said Vesey, who missed 10 games with a lower-body injury. "It felt good to be back with the team. Nice to score a goal, but not the result we wanted."
NOTES:Vesey had one goal, three shots and one hit in 13:01 of ice time in his return. … Kotkaniemi also had three shots on goal in 16:09 of ice time. ... Zetterlund led the Devils with six shots … The Hurricanes finished the season with 54 wins and 116 points, setting new Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes records. … Raanta and Frederik Andersen won the 2021-22 William M. Jennings Trophy, given to the goaltenders who play at least 25 games and allow the fewest goals during a season, after allowing an NHL-low 202 goals. … Hurricanes defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce each finished plus-35 to establish a Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes season record. … Jarvis has seven points (three goals, four assists) during a seven-game point streak. ... Raanta is 7-0-1 against New Jersey. … Bear tied a career high in goals (five). He scored five in 71 games during the 2019-20 season as a member of the Edmonton Oilers. … Skjei has 39 points (nine goals, 30 assists) this season, tying his career high set in 2016-17 as a member of the New York Rangers (five goals, 30 assists). ... Zacha had two assists to set a career high in points (36 points; 15 goals, 21 assists).