After winning each of the first two games of their first-round series against the New Jersey Devils by a combined score of 7-2, it felt as if the Carolina Hurricanes would advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals without much of an issue. Now, after New Jersey's 3-2 double overtime win in Game 3 of the series, suddenly, the momentum has shifted a bit.
The Devils got off to a strong start, aided heavily by a boisterous crowd in Newark, and led 2-0 early in the third period after Dawson Mercer scored his first goal of the series. The Hurricanes, however, stormed back, tying the game with a pair of power-play goals, forcing the game to head to overtime. The elusive game-winner didn't come in the first overtime session, but the Devils were able to win it early in the second overtime.
Simon Nemec, a 21-year-old who has had all sorts of trouble staying in New Jersey's lineup even with the team riddled with injuries, was the one who fittingly buried the game-winner.
NEMO-T HERO pic.twitter.com/N0uCEy0mwo
— x – New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) April 26, 2025
The Devils finding a way to get on the board has some Hurricanes fans wondering if it's time to panic. To that, I say it's far too early.
Hurricanes fans have little reason to panic after gut-wrenching loss to Devils
Was this loss infuriating for Carolina? Absolutely. Losing any game after playing more than 80 minutes hurts. The Hurricanes had all of the momentum entering Friday's action, and a win would've all but wrapped the series up. Now, they let the Devils feel good about themselves on home ice. With that being said, there's little reason for the Hurricanes to worry, at least not yet.
While the Devils were able to win this game, they're still severely short-handed. The team's best player, Jack Hughes, did not play in Friday's game and will be out all postseason. Both Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon, two mainstays on New Jersey's blueline, missed their second consecutive games, respectively, with injuries. Johnathan Kovacevic, another key Devils defenseman, left the game after just six minutes of ice time due to injury. The Devils did get Jonas Siegenthaler back, but who knows how much of a factor he'll be in this series after being forced to play a ton in his first game action in over two months?
The Devils are badly beaten with injuries, and while they were the better team on Friday, the fact that it took them as long as it did to win shows how tough it'll be for them to win the series outright. Jacob Markstrom is a high-end goaltender, and the Devils can defend even while shorthanded, but scoring goals is a chore for this team. The Devils had just two goals in the first two games, and it took them a pair of overtime sessions to score three goals on home ice despite having a slew of golden opportunities, particularly in the first overtime.
Adding to that, the Devils have gotten severely outplayed on special teams, which was supposed to be a strength for New Jersey. The Hurricanes scored twice on the power play in the span of just six minutes on Friday, and the Devils have yet to score with the man advantage all series. Carolina's penalty kill was the best in the league in the regular season, and has dominated in this series. There are no signs suggesting that will let up in any way. With how badly the Devils have struggled to generate offense at even strength for virtually the entire season, there's no reason to believe the Hurricanes will lose three more games to this team if they continue killing penalties.
At the end of the day, the Hurricanes were overwhelming favorites to win this series for a reason. One double overtime game in which Carolina clearly ran out of gas down the stretch shouldn't give fans much of a reason to be concerned. Sweeping a playoff series is incredibly difficult for any team to do.
Another subpar performance in Game 4 might change things with the series essentially becoming a best-of-three, but for now, the Hurricanes are still in command of this series. They've had a majority of the good play, and still have home ice advantage. Considering New Jersey's special teams struggles and absurd list of injuries, it still feels like this is Carolina's series.