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The Carolina Hurricanes took a three goal lead, then held on the rest of the way as they defeated the New Jersey Devils, 3-2 on Easter Sunday at the PNC Arena.
Victor Rask scored twice, his 19th and 20th goals of the season to lead the home team.
The Canes scored twice within 36 seconds midway through the first period when Jordan Staal fed Ron Hainsey a perfect pass and Rask scored his first of the night.
Hainsey sneaked in the back door and just chipped the puck past Jersey goalie Scott Wedgewood off a perfect pass from Staal. Then Rask found an opening in the Devils' defense during a powerplay chance and made no mistake after taking a pass from Elias Lindholm.
Two minutes into the second period, Jeff Skinner made a long pass that sprung Rask on a breakaway and the Swede beat Wedgewood again to make the score, 3-0.
The Devils made a game of it by scoring two goals within 50 seconds just a bit later in the second.
Bobby Farnham scored unassisted after a steal and Travis Zajac made it 3-2 when Cam Ward got tangled up behind his goal, leaving his net wide open.
The Canes held on the rest of the way to win 3-2 and improve their home record to 18-13-7.
They will travel to New York to take on the Islanders on Tuesday night for their next game.
Game Notes:
- The Hurricanes were a bit shorthanded in this game and needed to play defenseman Ryan Murphy at forward. Murphy played 7:22 and had one takeaway and one blocked shot.
- Speaking of blocked shots, none were more important than when Joakim Nordstrom blocked a shot from the point with less than a minute on the clock. Nordstrom also had four hits in the game.
- Staal was beast-mode in this contest and led the team with five hits, each of them jarring.
- Jaccob Slavin led the team with over 23 minutes of ice time. Hainsey was right behind with 22:59. The defensemen had three blocks each to lead the team.
- The Canes were outshot 25-23 and were led by Rask who had seven.
- The team won 56% of the game's faceoffs.
- For stats and interviews - Canes PR