Hurricanes Beat Brodeur & Devils, 6-3
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sergei Samsonov and rookie Jeff Skinner scored two goals apiece, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the struggling New Jersey Devils 6-3 on Saturday night for their third straight win.
Tuomo Ruutu added a goal and three assists, rookie Zac Dalpe scored his first NHL goal, and Joe Corvo, Jamie McBain and Chad LaRose each had two assists for the Hurricanes.
Carolina chased goalie Martin Brodeur with three goals in the first 8 minutes, stretched the lead to 4-0, matched a season high with three power-play goals and snapped a two-game losing streak at home.
Patrik Elias had a goal and an assist, and Rod Pelley and Travis Zajac and scored for New Jersey. The Devils, who have an NHL-worst 22 points, have lost 13 of 16 and 10 straight on the road.
Brodeur stopped just four shots before he was pulled for Johan Hedberg, who made 15 saves. Elias scored 2½ minutes into the third period to make it 5-3, but Cam Ward was impenetrable after that in his third straight win.
Ward finished with 25 saves for Carolina, which also scored three times on the power play on Nov. 9 against Edmonton and Nov. 26 against Boston.
Both of Samsonov's goals came on the power play. He went to the backhand to tap in the rebound of Corvo's slap shot to make it 3-0 in the first, before hammering in a rebound on a 5-on-3 advantage to make it 5-2 midway through the second. That gave him his first multigoal game in nearly a year.
Skinner polished off the second two-goal game of his young career when he scored on a wrist shot with 2:26 remaining.
Hedberg helped the Devils beat Atlanta 3-1 on Friday night to snap New Jersey's six-game losing streak and give Jacques Lemaire his first victory in his third stint as their coach. They are 1-7 in the second of back-to-back games this season.
The Hurricanes wasted little time in jumping on the Devils, putting three of their first seven shots past Brodeur. Carolina converted on two early power plays against a penalty-killing unit that had allowed only one goal in six games.
Corvo made the key play on the first goal, holding in New Jersey's clearing attempt and skating along the blue line before flinging the puck toward the net for Ruutu to deflect it past Brodeur at 1:48.
Skinner backhanded in the rebound of Tim Gleason's snap shot 2½ minutes later. When Samsonov scored his first goal with 12 minutes left, the winningest goalie in NHL history was yanked from the game.
By the time Dalpe snapped the puck past Hedberg to make it 4-0 with 6:18 left in the first, the Hurricanes had as many goals as the Devils had shots.
NOTES: Ruutu extended his point streak to four games. ... Samsonov's previous two-goal game was Jan. 27, 2010, in a 5-1 win over the New York Rangers. ... New Jersey D Matthew Corrente had two assists. ... Devils RW David Clarkson and Carolina D Jay Harrison briefly traded punches late in the second period.
