Devils Waste Markstrom’s Herculean Effort in 4-2 Loss to Hurricanes

Although they nearly earned a better fate at the end, the New Jersey Devils wasted a herculean effort from Jacob Markstrom, dropping the second leg of a back-to-back and losing to the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2, on Tuesday night.

As to be expected, the Hurricanes, as the rested team coming into this one, were spry and jumped onto every loose puck and board battle first, and it was reflected by the final score.

Markstrom kept the Devils in the game for most of the night and guided them to a scoreless first period, stopping nine Canes shots, including a right-pad save on Sebastian Aho, who eluded three Devils defenders from behind the goalline and got to the front of the net all by himself.

Per Natural Stat Trick, the Hurricanes had 11 first period scoring chances to the Devils’ four, while high-danger scoring chances were an astounding 6-0.

Then, at long last, superstar forward Jack Hughes finally emerged as the superhero the team needed, if only for a moment.

Just a minute into the second period, the 23-year-old picked up a loose puck along the wall, raced down the ice, and took over in Carolina’s end.

With Timo Meier alongside him, Hughes carefully waded across the ice from right to left, cutting across Brent Burns’s face and rifling a shot between the legs of Pyotr Kochetkov to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.

However, the excitement and the energy generated from that crucial goal was short-lived.

Moments after Markstrom denied Jesperi Kotkaniemi from point-blank in the low slot, Seth Jarvis’s first goal of the year punished the Devils’ sloppy play in their own end, whipping a turnaround shot over the shoulder of Markstrom from the high slot to tie the game at 1-1.

Markstrom would again bail out his teammates a short time after that, using his glove to rob Jack Drury blind from close range. It was tough sledding from there.

The Hurricanes scored a back-breaking goal late in the second period, as a botched defensive zone shift from the fourth line of Ondrej Palat, Curtis Lazar, and Nathan Bastian got caught out for an extended shift for what was one of many times on the evening.

Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere received the puck out high from Martin Necas and made the Devils pay, using Bastian as a screen to beat Markstrom from range and give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead.

The Red and Black did not fare much better in the third period, as the fourth line once again put in a dismal defensive shift that would prove costly.

Hurricanes rookie Jackson Blake scored his first NHL goal just over halfway through the final stanza, redirecting a Dmitry Orlov point shot to double Carolina’s lead to two goals at 3-1.

Devils captain Nico Hischier was able to make things interesting late in the game, cashing in on a 5-on-3 to bring New Jersey within one at 3-2 with just 4:44 to go.

Hughes and Jesper Bratt were working the angles from the center of the ice before Hughes found Hischier at the side of the cage. No. 13 promptly roofed his shot over a helpless Kochetkov for a desperately needed power play goal.

Despite the valiant efforts from Markstrom and the Devils’ stars, Aho was able to put the icing on the cake and score an empty-netter to seal the game at 4-2.

At the end of the night, Markstrom made 29 saves on 32 shots (.906%) and was probably the team’s best player.

We’ve seen the Devils play worse back-to-backs before, but it always hurts to squander two points to division rivals so early in the season.

Next up for New Jersey will be an away matchup with the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.