Devils 'stopped playing' in Game 4 loss in East 2nd Round, Hischier says

NEWARK, N.J. -- "I think we stopped playing."

Those were the words used by New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier to describe, perhaps, the worst loss of the season at the most inopportune time, 6-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

"It's unacceptable," Hischier said. "One after the other went in, and it [stinks]. But there's no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to regroup fast."

The Hurricanes put the Devils on the brink of elimination in part by scoring five goals on 10 shots in the second period, including four on six shots in a span of 5:20, for a 5-1 cushion.

It was a rough night for the fans in what could have been the final game at Prudential Center this season.

"We didn't give our fans anything to cheer about tonight, so that's on us," New Jersey defenseman Damon Severson said. "As players, we got to challenge ourselves to get back into this thing."

RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs Devils series coverage]

Additionally, for the third time in four games, Devils coach Lindy Ruff was forced to pull his starting goalie. This time it was Vitek Vanecek after allowing five goals on 17 shots. Akira Schmid allowed one goal on 12 shots in 27:00 of relief.

An exacerbated Vanecek couldn't find the words to express his disappointment.

"I don't know what happened in the second period," he said. "They had lucky bounces there and scored goals and we didn't. I have to be better for sure."

It wasn't all on the goalies; the defensive-zone coverage and pushback left a lot to be desired. But there certainly were no positives to take away from one of the more lopsided games of the series, which the Hurricanes lead 3-1.

Game 5 is at Carolina on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).

"[Vanecek's] getting point-blank opportunities that we gave up in the slot and we can't expect our goalies to make saves from dead center of the ice, looking straight at him, low to high as he's coming out trying to challenge," Severson said. "We can't get down on our goaltending. We have all the confidence in the world no matter who is in net. We're confident going into Game 5 with whoever is in net."

In a 5-1 loss at Carolina in Game 1, Schmid allowed three goals on 11 shots before being relieved by Vanecek, who made 10 saves on 11 shots in 37:01. In a 6-1 loss in Game 2, Schmid allowed four goals on 25 shots in two periods before Vanecek made eight saves on 10 shots in the third.

So now what? A position that had been such a tower of strength in the regular season, and during a seven-game series triumph against the New York Rangers in the first round, has been uncharacteristically exposed against the Hurricanes.

The five goals allowed in the second were the most this season in a period by the Devils in the regular season and playoffs.

"I'll have to take a look at the tape, but with how we played and what we gave up, I don't think we should point the finger at the goaltender," Ruff said. "There's a lot of other places to look. We didn't skate well enough to really generate anything after that first period."

The Devils didn't help themselves with 26 giveaways, compared to two for the Hurricanes.

"They were a lot quicker on the puck and we weren't as quick moving it, getting open for each other, moving our feet," Severson said. "They were doing a better job than they did (in an 8-4 loss in Game 3) and we did a worst job than we did last game, so that's not a real good combination."

New Jersey also was outshot (24-20) and outscored (6-1) at even strength, an area that it dominated in Game 3, with a 6-1 goal differential even strength.

"I don't know where we went," Ruff said. "We didn't skate, we didn't support, our defense didn't move or try to leave the zone. There's not a lot I can say about tonight. It was about as disappointing an effort in a crucial game as ... they kind of flipped it on us.

"I think we're having a tough time dealing with success. We played a really good Game 3 and bounce back with a game like that?"

What's his message to his team in a must-win scenario?

"Win one game," Ruff said. "You got to move forward. Just like they moved forward from their game, we got to move forward from ours. We got to play the best game of the year."