Game 12 Recap: Hurricanes 4, Devils 2

The Carolina Hurricanes should be one tired hockey team as they have played three games in four nights and four games in six, all on the road, but the club finished their long road trip with a strong 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center.

Once again the team came from behind to get the win and finished the road trip with an outstanding 4-1-1 record. The Canes are now 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.

Eric Staal picked up two assists in this contest, extending his scoring streak to 10 games, (8G 8A) and Jiri Tlusty scored another two goals giving him six points in the last two games.

The win did not come easily though as the Devils took a 1-0 lead on a powerplay goal by Ilya Kovalchuk late in the first period. The goal was not credited immediately and took a review some time afterward to confirm it, but the home team skated into the first intermission with the one goal lead.

The Canes started the second period with a powerplay chance of their own and Jussi Jokinen would pot his first goal of the season from the slot area when Martin Brodeur seemed slow in covering the net. The Canes moved the puck quickly from side to side and the Finn one-timed a pass from Joe Corvo into an open net.

Later in the period, the Hurricanes took the lead when a Jay Harrison shot got past Brodeur after hitting Patrick Dwyer, who was crashing the net. The goal was Dwyer's fourth of the season.

The Devils tied the game, 2-2 early in the third period when former Hurricane Ryan Carter stole the puck and skated alone in front of Cam Ward.

A few minutes later, Staal would feed Jiri Tlusty from behind the net as the Canes took the lead back and later on Tlusty would score another empty netter with 34 seconds left, his second in as many nights, to put the game away.

The win put a halt to the Devils five game winning streak and keeps the Hurricanes at the top of the Southeast. Carolina will next face the Maple Leafs at home on Thursday night.

Game Notes:

• Special teams were better this game. After allowing the powerplay goal in the first period, the Canes killed off the next three they faced. At the other side of the rink, the Canes went 1-5 with the man advantage.
  
• Cam Ward out-played Brodeur on this night and made 26 saves on 28 shots.
  
• The Canes were outshot 28-25. They were led by E. Staal and Tlusty with three shots each.
• E. Staal and Tim Brent both won 62% of their faceoffs. The team won 52%.
• Tim Wallace had a team high four hits.
• Joni Pitkanen left the game early with an undisclosed injury. We will look for more information on this tomorrow.