Svechnikov Tallies Hat Trick as Hurricanes Take Down Devils, 4-1

The Carolina Hurricanes entered Newark in as brutal a scheduling situation as there is.

After a 9-1 drubbing of the Florida Panthers in Raleigh on Friday night, they touched down in Newark for the second half of a back-to-back on Saturday against a New Jersey Devils team that had been waiting for them with two full days of rest, having last played on Wednesday.

It didn’t matter.

Andrei Svechnikov recorded a hat trick, and Frederik Andersen delivered one of his best starts of the year as Carolina defeated a hungry and desperate Devils squad to strengthen their grip atop the Metropolitan Division standings.

The first period went by scoreless, with Andersen making several key stops as the Canes struggled to find a real rhythm.

They found their legs in the second period, though, and after a few physical altercations, they took the lead when Svechnikov closed hard on Luke Hughes, forcing him to turn the puck over to Sebastian Aho.

Aho entered the zone and found a trailing Svechnikov, who buried one past Markstrom to make it 1-0.

Svechnikov quickly made it 2-0 when he streaked down the right wing and fooled Markstrom, who allowed it to trickle through for a two-goal lead that Carolina took into the third.

The Devils got one back when Timo Meier beat Andersen with a tricky shot from distance on a power play, but it took the Canes just over four minutes to answer back.

That came in the form of Jackson Blake’s 15th goal of the year, which he tallied on a nice move to his backhand to beat Markstrom after a slick feed from Nikolaj Ehlers, who kept his momentum rolling after his hat trick against Florida.

Svechnikov once again beat Markstrom low with just over four minutes left in the third period to pick up his 16th goal of the season and give Carolina a hat trick in a second straight game.