163 days after the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the New Jersey Devils at Lenovo Center, the two teams kicked off the 2025-26 season in the same building. Unfortunately for the Devils, they left with a similar foul taste in their mouths, falling 6-3 and extending their mind-boggling winless streak in Carolina to 1,003 days.
Related: Jarvis & Miller’s 2 Goal Nights Lead Hurricanes to 6-3 Win Over Devils
Shaky Start
Slow starts have plagued the Devils in recent seasons, so getting off to one against a dominant team like the Canes was not ideal. Former Devil Taylor Hall opened the scoring with a redirect past Jacob Markstrom, as they continued to look flat. The first period numbers back that up:
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Hurricanes had 13 scoring chances to the Devils’ four. Certainly, a whopping 11 giveaways for the Devils in that frame was the primary contributor to the large disparity.
It also wasn’t just underperformance from one or two lines dragging down their start; they did not have a single player on the ice for more scoring chances than the Hurricanes.
To be fair though, many teams have (and will continue to) have first periods like this against Carolina. They’re arguably the best team in the league at even strength and they only got better in the offseason.
Opportune Finishing
Another issue that the Devils struggled with last season was finishing. Tonight, there was a refreshing reversal of that trend which helped them stay in it.
Dougie Hamilton sent a backhand chance past Frederik Andersen to knot the game up at one. When the Canes took a 2-1 lead, the Devils once again had a pretty quick answer as Cody Glass fired a wicked wrister through to tie it once again.
It’s not just that they got those goals, but it’s who scored. Hamilton had an injury-riddled season in 2024-25 and has the potential to become a real X-factor like he was in 2022-23. For Glass, getting off to a good start similarly has to feel great; he’s tasked with a big responsibility as the Devils’ likely 3C for the next two seasons.
When Miller scored to give the Hurricanes the lead again, the Devils had their third effective answer, as Jesper Bratt buried a feed from Luke Hughes to tie it at three. While the end result was poor, this is at least one positive that the Devils can take away.
Strange Markstrom Trend
Tonight continued a recent trend that Jacob Markstrom has followed in his last few seasons: extremely good against high danger chances, but not so much against medium and low danger.
According to MoneyPuck, all five goals he allowed were classified as ‘low danger’ opportunities. The Hurricanes had 12 medium danger chances and two of the high danger variety, but none of those found the back of the net.
From the eye test, there’s an argument that a couple of them could have at least been classified as medium danger, but regardless, Markstrom probably wants a few of them back…especially the Hurricanes’ third goal. The Hurricanes also rang iron five times, so the damage could have been even worse.
So, this guy is fitting in nicely pic.twitter.com/aDmiwsHeA6
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 10, 2025
Honorable Mention: Evgenii Dadonov
Dadonov saw his ice time go from 5:24 in the first, to 3:09 in the second, to just 59 seconds in the third. His spot on the top line was replaced for a good chunk of the shifts, as he was often stapled to the bench.
After the game, they received some more clarity. Devils’ team reporter Amanda Stein reported that Dadonov took a shot in the hand and couldn’t grip his stick. X-rays came back negative.
Return to Action
The Devils will have another tough matchup ahead of them as head south to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (7:00 PM EDT).
