Hurricanes hold off Devils for 4-3 win

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

NEWARK, N.J. – The Carolina Hurricanes earned a valuable road win against an Eastern Conference foe by beating the New Jersey Devils 4-3 in regulation time at the Prudential Center on Wednesday.

For the second consecutive game, the Hurricanes unleashed a four-goal barrage against their opponent that was enough to earn the win while goaltender Cam Ward fortified it with a spectacular 19-save performance.

“I thought we had a real smart game today,” Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller said afterwards.

“In the nets, Cam had a really strong effort again. I thought our guys did a really good job at puttin’ pucks in the right areas that created a good forecheck and capitalized on our scoring chances, and put a real solid 60 minutes together.”

Goals from Justin Faulk, Tuomo Ruutu, Ron Hainsey, and Patrick Dwyer all contributed to a commanding 4-1 lead that Carolina carried into the third period of play.

Captain Eric Staal extended his current point streak to seven games with an assist on Ruutu’s goal, while Ward continued to show that he is in peak form after recently returning from a groin injury.

With New Jersey pressing after narrowing the score to 4-2 at the 8:30 mark of the final period, Ward made his second outstanding, highlight-reel save of the week.

As the Devils hovered around his goal, the Carolina netminder made a diving glove save on a backhand shot from Adam Henrique that robbed the forward of bringing his team one goal closer to the Hurricanes with 2:24 to play.

The Devils didn’t quit and forward Jaromir Jagr capitalized on the opportunity 49 seconds later to slip the puck into an open net on a cross-slot pass that heightened the excitement around the game’s end.

Down 4-3, New Jersey continued to press Carolina by pulling goalkeeper Martin Brodeur (18 saves) for the extra attacker, but it was Dwyer, whose shorthanded goal became the eventual game-winner, picked the puck up and cleared it out of the Hurricanes zone and secured the team’s second win in as many games.