NEWARK, NJ – If you’re a New Jersey Devils fan, you can stop whining now about how poorly your team did down the last stretch of games in the regular season. If you’re a Carolina Hurricanes fan, your saying it’s just one game in a seven-game series.
The Devils won 4-1 in Game 1, but more importantly looked like the Devils that won the division. An early penalty to Carolina put New Jersey on the attack and despite going scoreless they pounded Hurricanes net minder Cam Ward with shots. It was an attack Carolina never recovered from.
Mike Mottau got the party started at 16:03 of the first period, and the Devils never looked back. Ward fired the puck up ice and the New Jersey defender ripped off the puck and whipped a wrister past Ward. Zach Parise and Patrick Elias scored in the second period to give the Devils a 3-0 lead. Parise’s goal came off a tremendous individual effort while Elias used a perfect pass from Brian Gionta to get off his successful shot.
The ‘Canes came back with a goal of their own when Ray Whitney scored at 9:22 of the third period to get back to within two, but Jamie Langenbrunner put the game out of reach only 29 seconds after Whitney’s goal to seal the deal for the Devils. Whitney’s goal was the result of a rare breakdown by the Devils. Carolina’s Chad Larose had a chance to pot the puck after a face-off in New Jersey’s end and Whitney reached around to put the puck past Brodeur. Langenbrunner, who was a hitting force all night long with a team-leading seven hits, scored after Paul Martin perfected a break-out rush. Martin took the puck from danger, fed Parise who in turn caught Langenbrunner who simply improved his angle by taking a few strides and fired the puck past Ward.
Carolina went 0-2 on the power play, while the Devils were 0-4. The ‘Canes won 55% of the face-offs, but were outshot 39-19.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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