Greene ends long goal drought; Devils win 3rd straight
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Defenseman Andy Greene capped a three-goal first period with his first tally in 71 games, and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Saturday night.
Former Hurricane Tuomo Ruutu and Adam Henrique also scored for the Devils, who won their third straight and improved to 10-2-3 in their past 15 home games.
Rookie Keith Kinkaid and Cory Schneider combined to make 31 saves. Kinkaid stopped 17 shots before leaving after he sustained a lower-body injury with 6:01 left in the second period.
Jeff Skinner scored from between the circles with 6:04 remaining to deprive the Devils of their third shutout. Anton Khudobin had 16 saves before he was pulled for an extra skater with four minutes left.
Carolina failed to capitalize as the Devils blocked at least six shots.
For the second time in two nights, the Devils opened a 3-0 lead. This time they did all the damage in the opening period with Ruutu, Henrique and Greene taking advantage of Carolina mistakes.
Ruutu gave the Devils the lead at 10:32, deflecting a point shot by defenseman Adam Larsson past Khudobin for his seventh goal.
Henrique stretched the lead to two less than two minutes later. He blocked an attempt by Hurricanes defenseman John-Michael Liles at the left point to send the puck in the Devils zone and set up a breakaway.
Henrique beat Khudobin between the pads four days after being stopped on a penalty shot by Buffalo's Michal Neuvirth.
Jordin Tootoo, who has been getting increased playing time, set up Greene's first goal of the season. He took a pass from Mike Cammalleri, skated behind the Carolina net, and found Greene alone for a shot into a wide-open net with 28 seconds left in the period.
Kinkaid did a lot of scrambling but he was outstanding when the Hurricanes challenged him and lucky when he needed to be.
Alexander Semin had a shot that went off Kinkaid's glove and hit off the crossbar in the first period.
Kinkaid stopped a tip-in by Nathan Gerbe, a blast by Skinner, and a breakaway by Victor Rask in the first. His best save might have been a stop on a wrist shot by Andrej Nestrasil from low in the circles in the second.
NOTES: Devils D Eric Gelinas played in his 100th NHL game. ... Greene's last goal was against Minnesota on March 20 of last season. ... Scott Gomez had an assist on Ruutu's goal, giving him 472 points with the Devils and tying him for fifth place in team history with Bobby Holik. ... Liles played in his 699th NHL game. ... Carolina has given up at least three goals in 15 of the past 19 games against the Devils.