In Raleigh, Antti Raanta made 24 saves and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils, 2-1, on Saturday.
“The only thing was just battling and trying to work hard,” Raanta said. “The skill is there, so you know if you work hard, you’re going to be successful. It didn’t feel like a four-week break. I just went in there and played the game.”
Jordan Martinook and Andrei Svechnikov scored for the Hurricanes.
“He (Raanta) was the difference,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “He made three or four key saves at real big times. We weren’t at our best and their team was really coming at us there for a little while. He kept us in the game. I can’t say enough about that.”
Carolina improved to 30-9-2
Jesper Boqvist was the lone striker for New Jersey.
“We played probably as well as we’ve played defensively,” New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff said. “I just thought we passed up some offensive-zone plays where we had lanes to get it to the net and we chose to pass. That’s probably the one area we have to improve.”
New Jersey dropped to 15-23-5.
“Obviously nice to get the first one out of the way,” Boqvist said. “[Janne Kuokkanen] had his wheels on driving around the net and Jimmy was screaming at me. I just tried to hit the net, so it was pretty lucky.”
Jon Gillies made 21 saves in the New Jersey loss.
“Frustration starts to build in, but our group is a group that doesn’t quit,” Ruff said. “There were some disappointed players coming back to the bench that didn’t finish the opportunity they had. They’re hard on themselves for not capitalizing on opportunities, but we’re a group that keeps digging in and tries to bounce back and win a hockey game.”
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