NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov scored three goals and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Sunday to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Brent Burns had a goal and an assist, and Jaccob Slavin also scored for the Hurricanes, who bounced back after a 3-2 loss in two overtimes two nights earlier. Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake each had two assists.
“Your best players have to be your best players. They have to be at this time of year,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Svechnikov. “Obviously he's on the scoresheet, so that's huge, but he had five or six shots, he was around it and if you want to be successful you have to get those contributions.”
Frederik Andersen stopped six of the seven shots he faced before leaving early in the second period due to an apparent injury. Pyotr Kochetkov came on and finished with 14 saves.
“When you lose your starting goalie it’s never a good feeling,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. ”Guys kept moving forward, stuck with the game plan and found a way to grind it out."
Timo Meier had a goal and an assist, and Nico Hischier also scored for the Devils. Jacob Markstrom had 24 saves.
“They were better," Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. "On top of us way more. We were on our heels. They defend very well. … We weren’t able to elevate our chances.”
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Devils were without defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon for the third straight game, and also didn't have Johnathan Kovacevic, who left after one period of Game 3.
Burns fired a shot from the right circle that Markstrom stopped but the puck dropped and rolled between the goalie's pads and across the line to push Carolina's lead to 4-2 with 5:46 left in the third.
Svechnikov then finished his second playoff hat trick with an empty-netter with 3:17 remaining. It was his fourth of the series and second into an empty net.
With the Hurricanes on a power play that carried over from the final minute of the first period, Jarvis sent a shot from the right circle that hit the shaft of Svechnikov’s stick, breaking it, and deflecting the puck past Markstrom at 42 seconds of the second to push the lead to 3-0.
“I liked our first shift (of the second period), but then we turned the puck over, they sling it at the net and it went in,” Keefe said. "Tough to find your way out (being down 3-0). We made a game of it but it wasn’t enough.”
The Devils got on the board a little more than two minutes later. Meier sent a pass in front from the end boards that went off Ondrej Palat's stick, but Hischier fired it past Andersen from between the circles.
Andersen left the game at 4:19 of the middle period after he was knocked down by Meier.
About 3:15 later, Meier got the puck low on the right side near the boards, turned and fired a shot that beat Kochetkov through the five-hole on the second shot he faced to pull the Devils to 3-2.
Svechnikov got the Hurricanes on the scoreboard as he fired a shot from the top of the right circle through traffic that beat Markstrom.
Slavin made it 2-0 at 9:47 as he blocked a clearing attempt by Stefan Noesen on the left side, passed the puck off the side boards to himself, skated up and beat Markstrom over his right shoulder from a sharp angle.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
Vin A. Cherwoo, The Associated Press
