Hurricanes go on second period scoring flurry, defeat Devils 6-1 in Game 2
New Jersey Devils 1 Carolina Hurricanes 6 Final
— Jesperi Kotkaniemi kick-started a barrage of four second period goals to help lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-1 win against the New Jersey Devils and a 2-0 lead in their second round playoff series.
Kotkaniemi scored the Canes' first two goals in a span of 2:23. He put Carolina on the board with a power play goal just 1:35 into the second when he fired a wrist shot by the blocker of Devils goalie Akira Schmid.
The Hurricanes followed that goal with a flurry of chances on net, culminating with Kotkaniemi scoring again from up close.
Carolina continued scoring in bunches. Captain Jordan Staal walked in for a backhand score with 2:35 left in the period to make the score 3-0.
With the PNC Arena crowd already in a frenzy, the Canes kept charging, and Martin Necas scored the final goal of the period with 15.1 seconds on the clock. Schmid was pulled early for the second straight game.
Carolina kept the scoring going in the third period with Jordan Martinook going top shelf on a breakaway goal to bring the margin to 5-1 with 7:12 to play.
Stefan Noesen scored just 54 seconds later after a beautiful pass from Sebastian Aho.
Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen started once again, and stopped 28 of 29 he faced. The only goal Andersen allowed came from Miles Wood with 16:10 left in the third period.
The Hurricanes announced before the contest goalie Antti Raanta would miss the game with an illness.
The series has been all Hurricanes so far after Carolina defeated New Jersey 5-1 in Game 1 on Wednesday.
Carolina has held a 2-0 series lead in fourth straight playoff series. The Canes led Boston 2-0 in the first-round in 2022 before hanging on in seven games. There was another 2-0 lead against the New York Rangers, who pushed Carolina to the brink and dominated Game 7 in Raleigh. In 2021, the Canes led Nashville 2-0 before holding on to win the series 4-2.
The series shifts to New Jersey for Game 3 on Sunday and Game 4 on Tuesday. WRAL's Kacy Hintz will be covering those games at the Prudential Center.
Source: WRALSportsFan
