RALEIGH, N.C. — The New Jersey Devils didn’t skate on Monday. Instead they took the day to reassess what happened in their 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Sunday and figure out what they can do to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“There’s a few different things that really stood out,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Our ability to get out of our zone, which we knew was going to be a great challenge in this series, I thought at times we were able to accomplish that, but clearly not enough. When you don’t get out and get through against these guys, they turn on you, and they can turn it into a barrage of chances or shots against.”

It’s one of several issues that need to be addressed and improved upon before Game 2 at Lenovo Center on Tuesday (6 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, MSGSN, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360).

“They’re a fast team and they forecheck hard,” goalie Jacob Markstrom said. “I thought they played a good game and I think we didn’t really come up to our standard. These are the games you want to play. I think we’re all excited to get back out there again and get another crack at it.”

Markstrom, who was playing his first postseason game since 2021-22 with the Calgary Flames, made 41 saves in a game Carolina controlled for long stretches.

In addition to successfully navigating the puck out of their end in Game 2, sustaining offensive-zone time is the next item on the checklist. It’s easier said than done, particularly since New Jersey scored the seventh-fewest 5-on-5 goals during the regular season with 149. Maintaining puck possession and creating offensive chances where it matters most could also force Carolina into mistakes.

“We just got to try to have a little more confidence, hold onto pucks more because they’re playing us 1-on-1, and I think just throwing the puck away is not good enough,” said Devils captain Nico Hischier, who scored the lone goal for New Jersey in Game 1. “I think we just got to execute a little better and trust our instincts.”

The Hurricanes outscored (3-0) and outshot (32-22) the Devils at 5-on-5 and denied them on two power-play chances that generated one shot on goal. In the regular season, the Devils had the third best power play in the NHL at 28.2 percent.

“They come so hard, so part of it is just trying to manage it, whether it’s skating on the puck a little more or just getting the puck out,” said defenseman Brett Pesce, who played his first nine NHL seasons with Carolina. “I think sometimes they come so hard, if you just get the puck out, you could beat them in transition, so we got to do a better job as defensemen in managing that.”

The Devils trailed just 1-0 after the first period, but special teams were an issue. The Devils failed to score on a first-period power play, and even though Carolina went 0-for-2 with the man-advantage in the first, it peppered Markstrom’s net.

“I didn’t mind a lot of our first period. … There’s 17 shots against but only seven 5-on-5,” Keefe said. “There’s 10 on special teams, which was probably the biggest issue of the first period for me. Given how important the special teams have been for us, our power play and our penalty kill weren’t up to the task in that first period, and that really kind of let the game get out of hand, and there were just a few sequences that allowed the second period to unravel.

“There’s some things to build on, but we’re going to have to, above all, dig in more and be more competitive when the situation calls for it on these puck battles.”

The Devils will play Game 2 without defensemen Luke Hughes and Brendon Dillon, who were injured in Game 1. Dillon was pushed awkwardly to the ice by Hurricanes forward William Carrier at 11:35 of the second period and never returned, although Keefe stressed postgame that his absence was precautionary. Hughes left the game at 8:36 of the third after taking a hit to the shoulder and he also left for the locker room, but did return at 15:32.

Center Cody Glass, who went 9-for-11 on face-offs, will play. He sustained a lower-body injury at 8:36 of the third and didn’t return.