Seth Jarvis scored his third goal of the playoffs and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils 5-1 on Wednesday to take a 1-0 lead in the East second-round series.
Jesper Fast took part in Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s goal, before completing in an empty net.
Brett Pesce and Brady Skeji also scored for Carolina, which limited the opponent to just one shot in the first period.
Kotkaniemi made it 3-0 in the second minute of the second period, which chased away rookie goalie Akira Schmid.
The 22-year-old Finn won a battle along the boards and soon after was at the left mouthpiece to redirect Jordan Martinook’s pass.
Game two is Friday night, once again in Raleigh.
Nathan Bastian was the Devils scorer.
New Jersey was doing without Timo Meier, who was hit hard by Jacob Trouba in the final game against the New York Rangers.
Frederik Andersen stopped 18 shots.
Schmid flinched three times on 11 shots, then Vitek Vanecek allowed a goal on 11 shots.
The Devils are playing in the second round for the first time in 11 years.
With the Boston Bruins out of the picture, either the Hurricanes (113 points) or the Devils (112) will have home ice advantage for the rest of the playoffs.
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