Devils' 5-Game Win Streak Broken at Home by Hurricanes

Jiri Tlusty scored the two goals in the third period and Cam Ward made 26 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes beat New Jersey 4-2 on Tuesday night, snapping the Devils' five-game winning streak.

Jussi Jokinen and Patrick Dwyer also scored for Carolina, which went 4-1-1 to conclude a six-game road trip.

With Carolina on the power play, Tlusty flipped a shot toward the net that bounced off Devils defenseman Bryce Salvador and over goalie Martin Brodeur at 7:25. Eric Stall picked up an assist, extending his point-scoring streak to 10 games.

Tlusty later added an empty-netter to seal the win.

Ilya Kovalchuk and Ryan Carter scored for the Eastern Conference-leading Devils, who lost in regulation for the first time at home this season (5-1-1). New Jersey had won seven straight at home against Carolina.

Third period heroics have become Tlusty's specialty.

On Monday, he scored two goals and four points in the third period to lead Carolina to 6-4 win over the New York Islanders.

The Hurricanes, the Southeast Division leaders, started the game with good energy, even though they played the night before on Long Island. Carolina used the kind of strong forechecking pressure that the Devils favor and took an early 8-3 shot advantage. Brodeur held his ground, fending off good scoring tries by Alexander Semin, Jeff Skinner and Joni Pitkanen.

The Devils broke through with the game's first goal at 15:59 as Kovalchuk drew a penalty and then scored the power-play goal — with an assist from the video replay.

Kovalchuk cranked a shot from the blue line that hit the back of the net and bounced back into play as the referees signaled no goal, believing the puck had hit the crossbar.

Play continued for about three minutes. When replay officials got the opportunity to review, they confirmed that the goal had been scored.

It was the third goal in the last four games for Kovalchuk.

The Hurricanes also started the second period strongly, and this time they were rewarded as Jokinen got a power-play goal at 1:36.

Major credit on the score went to Joe Corvo, who faked a shot from the point that most of the Devils, including Brodeur, overplayed to the left side. Instead of firing, Corvo slid a pass to Jokinen, all alone in the right circle with a wide-open net to hit.

It was Jokinen's first goal of the season.

Dwyer gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead with 1:31 left in the period, deflecting Jay Harrison's point shot.

Trailing for only the third time coming into the third period this season, the Devils came out storming with Ward stopping David Clarkson right on his doorstep in the opening seconds.

New Jersey kept buzzing in the Carolina zone and the pressure paid off as Justin Faulk coughed up the puck in the Hurricanes' zone and Carter backhanded the turnover past Ward at 1:34 to tie the game at 2.

And then Tlusty took over.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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