The low point of the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2015-16 season was easily a blowout loss at home to the New Jersey Devils in early December. If the same holds true this season, the team can at least take solace in the fact that it came much earlier in the campaign, as the Canes were thoroughly outplayed in a 4-1 loss to the Devils at PNC arena Sunday night.
Forward Mike Cammalleri had a hat trick for the Devils (5-3-3), and goaltender Keith Kinkaid turned aside 33 of 34 Hurricanes (3-5-3) shots.
“He’s got a great release; he doesn’t need much space,” Hurricanes forward Lee Stempniak said of Cammalleri. “He’s got a deceptive shot, and that was a prime example of that.”
A poor start doomed the Canes, who were playing the second half of a back-to-back set after a win in Nashville last night. The team was outshot 11-5 in the first period and found itself trailing 2-0 after two.
“They [the Devils] had a good start,” Stempniak said. “Once they get a two goal lead, they’re content to sit back and defend, and make us overextend ourselves a bit to try and make up the difference.
Following the scoreless first period, New Jersey wasted little time getting on the board in the second. Devils forward Travis Zajac made a slick cross-ice pass to Cammalleri, who buried a shot past Canes goalie Eddie Lack to make it 1-0 New Jersey less than five minutes into the period.
The Devils struck again a few minutes later as Cammalleri scored his second of the night, beating Lack with a well-placed shot off the rush to make it 2-0 as New Jersey scored twice on two second period shots on goal. The Canes challenged the goal to determine if there was offsides on the play, but it was upheld.
“You’re doing something right if you give up two shots in the period,” head coach Bill Peters said. “It would have been nice to have a few more quality chances on the power play in the second. We had three in the period and we needed something on it.
The Devils added insurance in the third when Cammalleri beat Lack glove-side high with a shot from the left circle to make it 3-0 New Jersey a little more than halfway through the period.
The Canes broke the shutout with seven minutes left as forward Andrej Nestrasil grabbed a loose puck off the end boards and lifted a shot over Kinkaid’s pad from a tough angle to make it 3-1.
The Canes got a late power play as they pressed to tie things up with Lack on the bench for an extra skate, but Devils defenseman Andy Greene fired a puck down the ice into the empty net with 54 seconds left to make it 4-1.
The team’s strong early-season power play has deserted it over the last week, as Carolina has not scored a power-play goal in four games and went 0-4 with the man advantage tonight.
“It comes down to execution, confidence, and all five guys doing their part,” Peters said. “It goes a long way obviously, and then guys start getting frustrated. If you think it’s going to be easy; it’s not. The penalty killers are hard-working people at every level but especially in the NHL. You’ve got to exceed their work ethic and execute.”
Defenseman Justin Faulk left the game in the third period with an injury and did not return. Peters said after the game that there were “a couple guys getting looked at” and an update would probably come Monday.
The Canes will get a quick chance to avenge this defeat, as they will head to New Jersey for a rematch against these same Devils on Tuesday.
“We’re going to have a better effort,” forward Jordan Staal said.
