Hurricanes, after 9-goal explosion, take aim at Devils
The Carolina Hurricanes will be hard pressed to equal their latest goal output when they face the New Jersey Devils on Saturday in Newark, N.J.
It's a quick turnaround for the Hurricanes, who played a home game on Friday night. Nikolaj Ehlers scored a hat trick as Carolina cruised to a 9-1 win against the Florida Panthers, tying the franchise record for goals in a game since the club relocated from Hartford.
Carolina put up nine goals for the third time, matching a mark achieved twice in the 2008-09 season.
Ehlers opened up scoring for the Hurricanes, who later took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. Carolina exploded for six third-period goals, including consecutive power-play goals from Andrei Svechnikov, Ehlers and Taylor Hall.
Nine Carolina players had multi-point nights, topped by Ehlers with four points and Mark Jankowski with a goal and two assists.
"I thought, 'Holy moly,' we were having a really nice game, and then their goalie was playing out of his mind," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "What I liked was that we didn't change our game. Even when they tied it up ... we kept on playing. It's been a long time coming against this team and we never seem to break through with goals. Tonight we finally did."
The Hurricanes finally got a win vs. the Panthers in the teams' third meeting this season. Florida swept Carolina in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals and beat the Hurricanes in five games in the same round last season.
Carolina dropped its previous two contests (0-1-1) this week before facing Florida.
"There was so much made of the last couple of games, and I get it," Brind'Amour said, "so it's nice to not have to talk about that anymore and move on, and we've got another one (Saturday)."
New Jersey also enters matchup on a positive note, having defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday. Nico Hischier scored twice in the game, including the OT game-winner at 1:18 to lift the Devils past the Western Conference visitors. Jacob Markstrom made 15 saves as New Jersey secured its second win in a row.
"You have to find ways to win hockey games," Hischier said. "They don't give you much. They are waiting for an opponent to make a mistake, and they are going the other way. ... We kept pushing and we played a (good) third, and in the end I think we deserved it. We wanted it a little more than they did."
Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said of the team stringing together consecutive victories, "It's important. These are two big points, important points. This was a tough game. (We) stayed patient and diligent with our game, and we get two points, and that's good."
The Saturday game will be the third meeting between the Devils and the Hurricanes this season. Carolina won the season opener for both teams on Oct. 9, prevailing 6-3 in Raleigh, N.C., then winning 3-1 in Newark on Jan. 4. The Devils have just one win against the Hurricanes in the past eight matchups going back to December 2024.