RALEIGH, N.C. — Michael Cammalleri made up for lost time Sunday night.
Cammalleri got his first three goals of the season, lifting the New Jersey Devils over the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 for their first road victory.
“It was nice to get them to hit the back of the net,” Cammalleri said.
Cammalleri scored twice in the second period and again midway through the third for his sixth career hat trick. Captain Andy Greene scored into an empty net for New Jersey.
The Devils improve to 1-3-2 away from home. Keith Kinkaid got his first win of the season behind 33 saves.
“Getting the first road win, hopefully it will be like Cami’s first goal and open the flood gates for us,” Kinkaid said. “He had a tremendous game, and it was good to get the win.”
New Jersey had been off to its worst road start since going 0-5-2 in 2013-14. The Devils lost to Florida 4-3 in overtime and then suffered a 4-1 loss at Tampa Bay in their last two outings.
“We didn’t like the way things were going in the last couple,” Cammalleri said. “To be able to nip that in the bud a little bit and now go back home means we can build on something.”
Carolina’s Andrej Nestrasil scored with 6:59 left in the third period. Eddie Lack stopped 17 shots in his first home start.
Cammalleri’s first goal came 4:31 into the second. He took a cross-ice pass from Travis Zajac and scored easily from just inside the left circle. He scored again just over three minutes later, slipping a shot under Lack’s pads on a rush from near the left faceoff dot.
He completed the hat trick on a shot from the left side 8:30 into the third.
Cammalleri has five goals and four assists in his last six games against the Hurricanes. He also had a key blocked shot late as Carolina was pressing.
Carolina pulled Lack for an extra skater with four minutes left but could not generate another goal.
The Hurricanes began the year with one of the league’s top power-play units but have gone four games without a man-advantage goal. They were 0 for 4 in this one.
“It comes down to execution,” coach Bill Peters said. “It comes down to confidence and it comes down to five guys doing their part.”
NOTES: Carolina F Jordan Staal played his 700th NHL game. … Carolina D Justin Faulk left with an undisclosed injury and did not return to the game. … Greene played in his 322nd straight game, the fourth-longest stretch in club history.
