Here are some observations from the game:
• The Devils lost Brenden Dillon just before the halfway mark of the game when he was shoved to the ice by William Carrier in the slot in front of Jacob Markstrom. The play immediately stopped as Ondrej Palat signaled Dillon in distress, hunched over on his knees on the ice. Dillon was tended to by a team trainer for several minutes before he was able to get to his feet. The 33-year-old defenseman was first helped off the ice by the trainer and Nathan Bastian, before eventually being able to skate off on his own.
The veteran went straight to the locker room with the trainer and did not return for the remainder of the game.
• Jacob Markstrom was screened on the opening shot of the game, a shot by Chatfield that found its way through to the back of the net. It was the first shot of the game, to give the Canes a 1-0 lead before they would pour on another 16 shots in the first period, of which Markstrom stopped them all to keep his team within striking distance.
• The Devils struggled to get their shots through to Freddie Anderson in the first period, registering just five shots on goal. Dougie Hamilton, Johnny Kovacevic, and Luke Hughes each had a shot at 5-on-5, while Jesper Bratt had a shorthanded chance and Dawson Mercer registered one on the power play. New Jersey was credited with 12 shot attempts after 20 minutes of play.
"More direct, more simpler," Hischier said of how to generate more shots. "I think also, we allowed them way too much to get the puck on net. We've got to be better in shooting lanes. We know they throw a lot of pucks on net, but still, I think going out on the point we've got to be way better in the shooting lanes."
• The shot discrepancy was significant from start to finish and illustrated exactly what Sheldon Keefe warned about prior to the start of Game 1. "The greatest challenge against Carolina is getting to the goaltender," he said. That proved to be far too true for New Jersey, who managed just 13 shots on Anderson after two periods of play, although they did progressively improve. After a five-shot first period, the Devils had eight in the second and eight in the third.
The Hurricanes dominated all afternoon with their shots, forcing Markstrom to face 38 shots by the end of two periods and 46 total.
"We're not going to get a lot, that's just the reality of it," Keefe said. "We haven't had a lot for quite some time and you come in and play a team like Carolina, they're going to make it real hard on you. With that said, we had more than enough to score more than we did. There's some opportunities there and did gain a little bit more. If we spend less time on our half of the ice, we're going to get a few more of those. The better we play on our half of the ice is going to reduce their time with the puck and increase ours and that should take care of us getting a bit more offense."
• Trying to spark some offense, head coach Sheldon Keefe did some line juggling, particularly in the third period with 11.
The forward lines were shuffled to the following:
Palat-Hischier-Meier
Haula-Mercer-Bratt
Cotter-Glass-Noesen
Sprong-Dowling-Bastian
These combinations appeared to add a little extra life into the Devils game, producing their best shot total of the three periods with 11.
"We needed to change it up and get a bit heavier alongside Nico," Keefe said. "With Timo there, just trying to get a little more traction on the lines. I though the Glass, Sprong, Cotter line was taking on water in a big way for us and we had to mix that up but also just change the mixup in our top six a little bit and see if we could shake something free there."
• Two players made their Stanley Cup Playoffs debuts. Both Johnny Kovacevic and Paul Cotter played the first postseason games of their careers.
