The New Jersey Devils hope to start the second half of the season like they started the first when they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night in Newark, New Jersey.
The Devils opened the season winning eight of nine games, but since then are just 14-16-2. They finished the first half with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Utah Mammoth on Saturday afternoon, giving them two straight victories.
“It’s a big win for us,” said New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom, who made 30 saves. “We have 41 more, and this is what most of them should look like.”
The Devils scored two goals or fewer in each of Markstrom’s previous four starts, and he lost three of them. They scored two goals in the first period Saturday and added two in the second to give it a 4-0 lead heading into the third.
“Obviously we have four on the board here and we think we control the game from faceoff until the end,” Markstrom said. “So this is a big team win and something we have to build on. This is how we have to play to be successful.”
Jake Allen and Markstrom have alternated over the last 10 starts, so Allen will likely start against Carolina in the second game of a back-to-back set.
New Jersey is 3-1-1 in Allen’s last five starts. Allen, however, is 3-5-1 in nine career starts against the Hurricanes, with a 2.82 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.
New Jersey defender Dougie Hamilton scored a goal on Saturday for the first time since October 28. The Devils would now like to see Dawson Mercer end his goal drought, as he has been scoreless since November 29.
The Hurricanes will also play the second game of a back-to-back after losing 5-3 to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Carolina led 3-1 early in the third period before allowing four unanswered goals.
“We’ve done it four times in the last six games, or something like that,” Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers said of blowing a multi-goal lead. “And these were games where we played very well, until the last period.
“Last game it was me throwing the puck straight to a guy in the slot. Today it was maybe a few mistakes and it was in the back of our net. So we have some things to clean up. Luckily we have 41 games to do that.”
The loss was Carolina’s third in a row and sixth in eight games.
“Those are the teams you want to play,” Ehlers said of the Avalanche, who improved to 31-2-7. “So we can take stuff, but we also have stuff that we have to bring with us that we have to clean.”
Brandon Bussi is expected to start in goal for the Hurricanes after Frederik Andersen made 30 saves against Colorado.
Bussi made 16 NHL starts, none against the Devils. He gave up a season-high six goals in his last outing, a 7-5 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
–Field level media
