RALEIGH, N.C. — Taylor Hall has had the hottest stick in the NHL for the past month, but on Sunday his streak almost came to an end.
Then came overtime.
Hall came through with the winning goal with 22 seconds left in the extra period, giving the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
The goal extended Hall’s league-best streak of games with a point to 18.
New Jersey had won the first of the teams’ four meetings this season on Thursday night to start the Hurricanes’ three-game losing streak.
"It was a self-starter type of game for us," New Jersey coach John Hymes said. "It’s on them to find a way to have the motivation to play as hard as we did and they did that. That’s a great sign for us moving forward."
Keith Kinkaid stopped 40 shots for the Devils.
"I think the fact that this was a 5 o’clock game was pretty understated," Hall said. "The fact that they’re not on a back to back, we played last night. The flight from Tampa to Carolina is a lot longer than you think. We weren’t a rested group by any means, but you saw the battle level that was there and that’s always good."
The Devils led 1-0 after a first period in which the Hurricanes outshot them 13-9.
Nico Hischier scored New Jersey’s first goal on a power play midway through the first, assisted by Sami Vatanen and Kinkaid.
The Hurricanes tied it at 6:25 of the second with Teuvo Teravainen scoring from Trevor van Riemsdyk and Victor Rask, who was playing in his 300th NHL game — all with Carolina.
"I thought we had some good looks," Carolina coach Bill Peters said. "We had the puck plenty. But that was a tough one. We gifted them both of their goals tonight."
The Devils went back ahead with 4:27 left in the second when Pavel Zacha scored on the assist from John Moore.
Jeff Skinner tied the game in a sixth-attacker situation with 1:18 left in regulation on assists from Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin.
Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward had 18 saves.
NOTES: LW Lee Stempniak and D Klas Dahlbeck were healthy scratches for Carolina. … RW Jimmy Hayes and D Will Butcher were healthy extras for New Jersey. … Devils backup goalie Eddie Lack is a former Hurricane. … The teams’ other two meetings are March 2 in Raleigh and March 27 in New Jersey.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host Columbus on Tuesday in the first of a three-game homestand.
Hurricanes: Host Pittsburgh on Friday night.
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