The Devils have a 24-19-3 record and are four points behind the Red Wings for the second wild-card spot.
"All these points matter at the end of the year. We're in the second half of the season, so it's a big game for us. We'll give it our all here tonight."
Sometimes, things don't go according to plan.
The New Jersey Devils could not overcome a 3-0 deficit Thursday night as the Carolina Hurricanes handed them a 3-2 loss at PNC Arena.
The Hurricanes scored the game's opening goal 1:30 into the first period. Sebastian Aho scored his 17th goal of the season, with Teuvo Teravainen and Jaccob Slavin earning the assists. It was the sixth straight game that the Devils surrendered the first goal.
Dawson Mercer lost the puck near Carolina's blue line, and Aho got behind rookie defenseman Simon Nemec to get his backhand shot past goaltender Nico Daws.
After 20 minutes, the Devils held a 10-9 shot advantage but trailed 1-0.
New Jersey's early-period struggles continued in the second when Carolina scored two goals in 25 seconds within the first three minutes of the middle frame.
Teravainen scored his 16th goal of the season 2:54 seconds after the puck dropped for the second period. Ondrej Palat was called for tripping Dmitry Orlov, and it took Carolina two seconds to capitalize on the man advantage. Michael Bunting and Aho were credited with the assists.
Moments later, Jordan Staal celebrated his sixth goal of the season. Due to a miscommunication between New Jersey's skaters, he was left alone in front of Daws for an easy tip-in.
The coaching staff decided to pull Daws, replacing him with Vitek Vanecek 23 minutes into the game.
The Devils trailed 3-0 after two periods. Carolina netminder Antti Raanta only faced five shots on goal in that middle frame.
Associate coach Travis Green manned the Devils' bench in the third period. The team announced, "Ruff won't be going out for the third period. He's held back after that puck hit him in the face at the end of the period."
A little over five minutes into play, Justin Dowling scored his first as a Devil to make the score 3-1. His linemates Alexander Holtz and Chris Tierney collected the assists.
In the game's waning seconds, Jesper Bratt pulled his team within one with his 18th goal of the season. Rookie defenseman Luke Hughes was credited with the lone assist.
Vanecek stopped all 11 shots faced, but time ran out as his team fell by a final score of 3-2.
UP NEXT: The Devils will face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, Jan. 27.
LINES:
Timo Meier - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Ondrej Palat - Dawson Mercer - Tyler Toffoli
Curtis Lazar - Erik Haula - Nathan Bastian
Justin Dowling - Chris Tierney - Alexander Holtz
Kevin Bahl - Simon Nemec
Luke Hughes - John Marino
Santeri Hatakka - Colin Miller
Nico Daws
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