RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes kept on winning, this time at the expense of the skidding New Jersey Devils, who still can’t get on track without Martin Brodeur.
Jiri Tlusty had two goals, and the surging Hurricanes built an early lead and carried it through to a 6-3 victory over the Devils on Saturday night.
New Jersey, which was in rally mode almost all night, got two goals from Ilya Kovalchuk, including a short-handed tally, and one from Patrik Elias, but that wasn’t enough to avoid their seventh loss in eight games without top goalie Brodeur.
“We’ve got to get wins. I’m not going to kid you and tell you I’m not worried," Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. “It concerns me that we’re not scoring. You look at the shots and the chances, and there’s not a huge discrepancy from three weeks ago when we were winning games.
“It’s finding that fine line that we seemed to have lost."
Alexander Semin and Jay Harrison scored 28 seconds apart in the first period, and Jeff Skinner and Chris Terry — in his NHL debut — added goals for the Hurricanes, who won for the fifth time in six games. Dan Ellis made 31 saves in the victory.
Tlusty’s second goal was into an empty net with 1:14 remaining.
“I think we got off to a good start and we were getting pucks to the net," Harrison said. “(Ellis) was big when he needed to be. He was a huge part of the win. But it was a complete team win for us."
New Jersey got two goals from Ilya Kovalchuk, including a short-handed tally, and one from Patrik Elias but that wasn’t enough for the Devils to avoid their seventh loss in eight games.
Also on Saturday:
Islanders 5
Capitals 2
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — John Tavares scored two power-play goals in the third period to lift New York past Washington, ending the Capitals’ three-game winning streak.
Blue Jackets 3
Red Wings 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sergei Bobrovsky had 29 saves in his first career shutout, and Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno took advantage of Detroit giveaways to score goals in leading suddenly hot Columbus to victory.
Bruins 3
Flyers 0
BOSTON — Tyler Seguin scored his third goal in two games and Boston added two more in a span of two minutes in beating Philadelphia.
Blues 4
Sharks 3
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Vladimir Sobotka recorded his first career hat trick and Patrik Berglund scored 72 seconds into overtime to lift St. Louis past San Jose.
Penguins 5
Maple Leafs 4
TORONTO — Sidney Crosby and James Neal scored shootout goals, and Pittsburgh beat Toronto for its NHL-leading 11th road win.
Canadiens 4
Lightning 3
TAMPA, Fla. — Brendan Gallagher broke a tie with Montreal’s third goal of the third period, and the Eastern Conference-leading Canadiens rallied to beat Tampa Bay.
Coyotes 2
Stars 1
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Rob Klinkhammer netted his first NHL goal in his Coyotes debut, and Shane Doan also scored as Phoenix beat Dallas.
Wild 2
Predators 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Matt Cullen scored the shootout-winning goal to give Minnesota a victory over Nashville.
Kings 6
Flames 2
LOS ANGELES — Jeff Carter opened the scoring with his 13th goal in 13 games, Justin Williams had a goal and two assists, and Los Angeles beat Calgary.
