NEWARK, N.J. – A three-goal performance from Andrei Svechnikov guided the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
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After conceding first in each of the last two games, the Hurricanes opened Game 4 on the front foot with a goal just 52 seconds into the contest, courtesy of Svechnikov‘s seeing-eye shot from the right circle.
Continuing their solid first-period play, Carolina made it 2-0 just before the midway point on a sterling solo effort by Jaccob Slavin, who stripped Stefan Noesen of the puck at the blue line before making his way down the boards and whistling a wrister past the ear of Jacob Markstrom.
Carolina kept the momentum trending in their direction to start the second period, as Svechnikov‘s second goal of the afternoon gave his team a three-goal advantage. However, the game took a complete 180-degree turn after that.
New Jersey countered Svechnikov’s tally just 2:03 later, and 1:34 after that, Frederik Andersen was run into by Timo Meier, forcing him out of the game. With Pyotr Kochetkov entering in relief, the Devils didn’t need long to get one by him, sending the contest to the third with a 3-2 score.
Although things got hairy in the middle 40, the Hurricanes put the clamps on the contest in the third. A Brent Burns insurance marker at 14:14 gave the visitors a cushion, and at 16:43, Svechnikov completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal.
Kochetkov finished with 14 saves on 15 shots in a relief appearance, following up Andersen‘s 6-for-7 showing to start the game.