Andrei Svechnikov was the only scorer in the shootout and helped the Carolina Hurricanes exit New Jersey in a 5-4 win over the Devils Sunday at the Prudential Center.
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The young Canes forward opened 2023 with a bang by expertly outsmarting Mackenzie Blackwood. His teammate Antti Raanta took care of the rest, stopping the three players who passed in front of him.
Jesper Bratt thought he was playing heroes when he scored his second goal towards the end of the third period, but Martin Necas had other plans. The latter put the two teams into overtime on the power play, taking advantage of a costly Ryan Graves penalty for tossing the puck into the stands.
With the 2-2 result early in the third period after Bratt’s first goal, Derek Stepan scored his second goal of the game to put his team back in front. However, home team captain Nico Hischier had no intention of letting his squad lose in the first game of 2023. It took the former Halifax Mooseheads 34 seconds to take matters into their own hands and reset the counters by landing a net spin that Blackwood took by storm.
After an uneventful first half, it was the visiting side that hit the net. Stepan opened the scoring by easily fitting the puck into a nearly empty goal while teammate Stefan Noesen was trying his best to smash the opposing keeper. The “Devils” line comes from the stock of Jack Hughes, who threaded the needle for the 21st time this season.
For his part, Sebastian Aho scored one of the easiest goals of his career. Attempting to erase the disc, Blackwood put it back on the paddle of Number 20, who fired a shot into an abandoned net.
The local keeper was streamlined and finished the game with 42 saves from 46 tries.