NEWARK, N.J. – Chris Terry deked goaltender Cory Schneider and gave Carolina Hurricanes fans an early Christmas gift with a 2-1 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Tuesday.
Both teams skated to a 1-1 tie after 65 minutes of regulation play and overtime as New Jersey’s Stephen Gionta and Carolina’s Ron Hainsey scored in the first and third periods respectively.
Hurricanes netminder Anton Khudobin made 18 saves to earn his first win of the season, while Schneider made 32 stops in the losing effort for the Devils.
After 10 previous starts in which Carolina came up short for Khudobin, head coach Bill Peters was happy that the team could earn a win for the hard-working netminder.
“I thought it was good for Anton,” Peters said.
“Anton’s been very good for us. Good for him to get off the schnide and get a win. He should have had one earlier, but it’s just the way it’s worked out. The guys played hard out in front of him tonight.”
Both teams’ penalty killing units were effective in denying five total man-advantage opportunities afforded throughout the game as Carolina finished 0-for-2 on the power play – no better than New Jersey’s 0-for-3 performance with an extra skater.
While Scott Gomez, Jeff Skinner, Mike Cammalleri, Nathan Gerbe, and Adam Henrique alternated attempts to beat the two keepers it was Terry who completed the feat successfully, drawing backhand to forehand to slide the puck under Schneider’s pad.
As a result, the Hurricanes (10-20-4) moved their record in shootouts to 3-5 on the season, while New Jersey (12-17-7) slid to 0-4.
“He’s good statistically, 3-for-3, now 4-for-5, I believe,” Peters said of Terry’s shootout record.
“So you know how it is with the analytics, everybody knows the numbers. We’ll just keep goin’ with the same guys. Eventually the tide’s gotta’ turn, right?”
The Hurricanes return to Raleigh and will take the next three days off as part of the NHL’s holiday break before facing the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. on Saturday.