St. Nicholas visited the Carolina Hurricanes a day late, but he delivered a 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils under the tree at PNC Arena Saturday night as the Canes prevailed in a tight game.

“[The Devils] played hard,” Carolina head coach Bill Peters said. “They are above you, they are quick, and I thought they had chances and we had chances. Both goaltenders were good. It was little bit of a battle coming off the break, but I thought for the most part our guys hung in there.

Netminder Cam Ward played very well for Carolina, stopping 19 of 20 Devils shots and making several key saves.

“He’s been good for a little while here,” Peters said. “He was excellent [tonight]; he handled the puck well, he did a lot of good things. It’s an encouraging sign.”

The first period was pretty evenly played, with the Canes (14-16-5) perhaps having a slight edge outshooting New Jersey (17-14-5) 7-6. Both teams had a few good scoring chances, but both goalies were equal to the task and neither could dent the scoreboard in the opening frame.

The game did not start the way the Canes wanted, as Eric Staal took an offensive zone penalty for slashing on the game’s first shift, but the penalty kill came through.

The Devils nearly took the lead a little less than nine minutes in but Ward made a nice pad save on a point blank backhander by Devils center Travis Zajac.  

The Canes nearly scored on a wild net mouth scramble with seven minutes to go in the period, but Devils starter Cory Schneider stopped point blank offerings from forwards Chris Terry and Riley Nash, and the rebound rolled wide.

The Devils came out firing to start the second, outshooting the Canes 6-2 through the first eight minutes and change. However, Ward stood tall, and it was the Canes who struck first, as defenseman Brett Pesce fired a low wrister from the point, through an Andrej Nestrasil screen and past Schneider for a 1-0 Canes lead.

“I saw [Nestrasil] in front, I realized it was kind of a long shift for them,” Pesce said. “We were peppering their zone, and I saw [Nestrasil] in front and just tried to go for his stick and luckily it went in.”

The Pesce goal was sandwiched by two golden opportunities for the Canes, as winger Joakim Nordstrom was robbed on an in close shot by Schneider shortly before, and later Schneider scissored his pads to stop an Elias Lindholm wrister from the slot.

Despite its slow start to the period, Carolina outshot New Jersey 12-7 in the middle frame.

The third period started with a tough sequence for the Canes, as forward Kris Versteeg’s shot from the above the circles rang off the goal post, and then the Devils tied the game at one quickly after that as winger Kyle Palmieri scored on a wrap around a little over a minute into the period.

The Canes nearly regained the lead a couple minutes later, but Schneider robbed Versteeg at the right post with a glove save. Moments later, the Hurricanes were awarded their first power play opportunity of the game but were unable to convert.

The Canes held serve and bounced back, however, regaining a one goal lead eight minutes and change into the period as Justin Faulk took a feed out of the corner from Eric Staal and scored from the slot for his first even strength goal of the season.

Ward and Schneider traded big saves with about five and a half minutes left, as Ward made a blocker save on Lee Stempniak’s shot from the faceoff circle and Schneider kicked away a Jordan Staal shot in tight to keep the game at 2-1.

Just after the Devils nearly tied it on a redirection from between the circles, Nordstrom caught Schneider napping as he blasted in a shot from above the left circle to put the Canes up 3-1 with three minutes and change to go and seal the win.

The Canes will have a quick turnaround, as they will next take on the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center in Chicago Sunday night.