Devils' 3-2 Loss to Hurricanes: Slow Starts Costly

Slow starts to the 1st and 2nd periods cost the New Jersey Devils in a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes

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The New Jersey Devils came back from a multi-goal deficit against the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this week. But their second attempt at doing so came short, as they fell 3-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes despite rallying in the third period. Here are three takeaways from the loss. 

Devils Plagued by Slow Starts Again

Starting on time has been a problem for the Devils this season, and it was again last night versus the Hurricanes. For the 33rd time in 46 contests, the Devils gave up the game's first goal. The Devils have shown they can come back from that this season, but it gets more difficult against teams like the Hurricanes when you fall behind by a couple of goals. 

Just about a minute and a half into the game, Dawson Mercer turned the puck over in the neutral zone. That led to Šimon Nemec getting caught cheating and looking to join the attack. Sebastian Aho got in behind him and had a breakaway that he buried past Nico Daws. 

It was a rough first five to six minutes of the first period for the Devils, but they played pretty well after that. They generated 1.4 expected goals and controlled 73.56 percent of the expected goals (xG%) in the opening frame. 

Like Bryce Salvador said after the second period, you would have thought that momentum would've carried into the middle frame. But the Devils got boat raced for the majority of that period. The Hurricanes scored two quick goals in the first five minutes of the period and had most of the zone time, not allowing the Devils to create anything at five-on-five. 

To their credit, as they've done so many times this season, the Devils pushed back in the third. They generated 1.9 expected goals at five-on-five and had an xG% just above 91 percent. They scored two goals and probably could've had more if puck luck were on their side.