RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes reached the halfway point in their season Tuesday.
The Canes also reached it with a 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils in a Metropolitan Division game at PNC Arena.
It was a game in which the Canes (25-9-7) got another goal from Max Pacioretty — his third in three games — and two shorthanded goals, from Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Sebastian Aho.
But the Devils (26-12-3) scored twice in 18 seconds late in the second period to tie the score, then surged ahead at 8:53 of the third as forward Dawson Mercer scored his second goal of the game. Nico Hischier was awarded an empty-net goal in the final minute after a penalty against Jordan Staal.
Goaltender Vitek Vanecek took it from there, earning his 16th win of the season with 25 saves. Canes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov took the loss, his third in a row, and allowed some leaky goals.
What was a Hurricanes slip now has become Hurricanes’ 0-3-1 skid as the Devils, 15-2-1 on the road this season. moved within two points of Carolina’s Metro lead.
In the past week, the Canes have lost a game to Nashville despite getting 67 shots, lost to the last-place team in the division in Columbus, then lost after scoring twice shorthanded.
The Canes seemingly had Tuesday’s game well under control after Aho”s shorthanded strike in the second period. They had a 3-1 lead, the crowd was loud and the Devils in a hole.
Then, in 18 seconds, the Devils were out of the hole and the score tied.
In the final minute of the period, Mercer came out from behind the Canes net and poked the puck through Kochetkov’s pads with 52 seconds left in the period.
Moments later, forward Jesper Boqvist did the same after a give-and-go with Mercer, the twosome again beating the Canes’ defensive pairing of Jalen Chatfield and Dylan Coghlan.
So ended a period in which the Devils did not have a shot on goal until 8:49 was left.
The Canes’ first shorthanded goal gave Carolina a 1-0 lead. Martin Necas both won a faceoff in the Devils’ zone, controlled the puck and got it to Kotkaniemi for a quick shot and his seventh of the season.
Aho’s second “shortie” of the season came with 2:26 left in the second and the Canes on the penalty kill after Jordan Martinook was called for high-sticking. Brett Pesce got the puck to Aho, Teuvo Teravainen filled the left wing and set up Aho for his 13th goal of the season.
The Devils’ first goal of the game came in the first period on another shot that Kochetkov should have, but did not stop.
Jonas Siegenthaler got off a tight-angle shot, the puck hitting Kochetkov’s right pad and slipping past the post.
The play had to be reviewed — the initial replays shown on the scoreboard made it appear Kochetkov had fallen back on the puck and kept it from crossing the goal line. But another angle clearly showed the puck hitting Kochetkov’s pad at the post and the puck disappearing.
Before New Jersey’s two quickie scores, the Devils twice had attempts hit the post — Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt with the near-misses.
The Canes also had their chances. After the Devils tied it in the second, Carolina got off a flurry of shots.
Pacioretty’s goal came after he took a puck hard off the end boards and chipped it up and off the Devils’ Yegor Sharangovich and past Vanecek.
The Devils’ Hughes had a five-game goal streak come to an end. The dynamic forward had scored eight goals in the five games.
