Taylor Hall talks about the Devils' 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, March 27, 2018. Abbey Mastracco/NorthJersey.com
NEWARK – The Devils were nearly undone by the details Tuesday night at Prudential Center. They faced a must-win situation against the Carolina Hurricanes and overcame their own mistakes to win 4-3, thanks in large part to a three-point night by Kyle Palmieri and a late game-winner by Stefan Noesen.
There were drastic momentum shifts and long periods of play without the puck. While the Hurricanes made life tough for the Devils, ultimately, they know they did it to themselves. And with the stakes this high and the margin for error so thin, the Devils aren’t about to sit back and accept this performance as their best.
“I definitely don't think it was our A game or our A-minus game,” Palmieri said. “Keith [Kinkaid] stood on his head and gave us a chance tonight.”
The Devils now have 88 points and created some separation between themselves and the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Wild Card race. The Panthers are three points behind with two games in hand.
With the game tied at 2-2 in the third, Carolina’s Noah Hanifin found himself all alone in the crease. He had a tight window and effectively threaded the needle just 3:39 into the period to give the 'Canes a 3-2 lead.
But the Devils didn’t back down. Palmieri redirected Hall’s shot into the net at 11:05 to tie the game at 3-all.
Noesen scored the game-winner with just 1:33 left to play, Palmieri scored twice on the power play and assisted on Pavel Zacha’s first-period goal and Taylor Hall assisted on both goals, but it was Kinkaid who was the unsung hero of the night with 31 saves.
The teammates in front of him wanted to make sure that his praises were appropriately sung. Kinkaid never let the deficit reach more than one, effectively allowing the Devils to stay within striking distance each time the game got out of hand.
“At this time of year, Kinkaid making those breakaway saves and holding us in, letting us find our game in the third period was huge,”’ Hall said.
The Devils came out of the gate energized and it showed when they took a quick 1-0 lead 5:47 into play, but they failed to benefit from a strong penalty kill and instead they lapsed just past the halfway mark. They were sloppy, failed to hang on to the puck, and allowed two goals to end the period down 2-1.
“We’ve talked about not letting off the gas and maintaining focus,” coach John Hynes said. “So, it’s fantastic that we found a way to win this game but we’ve got to come back here tomorrow to the rink and find a way to stay within ourselves and make sure we’re moving past this game. We’ve got to make sure we’re a better team against Pittsburgh.”
The sloppy play was carried over into the second period but another big penalty kill and a monster shift by the top line brought them back to life. The top line hammered away at Scott Darling (41 saves) and Palmieri drew a holding penalty at 13:22 sending Phil Di Giuseppe to the box.
Palmieri himself capitalized less than a minute later, finishing off a crossing feed from Hall to make it 2-2.
“He’s such a dangerous player,” Hall said. “If I can ever find him – if it’s a tip or a one-timer, or even just a cross-seam pass, he’s just so dangerous with his shooting.”
Abbey Mastracco talks being The Record's new Devils' beat reporter and discusses the team's playoff push. Abbey Mastracco and Sean Farrell/NorthJersey.com
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