Devils Best Hurricanes 5-1

An outstanding effort by Travis Zajac led the New Jersey Devils to victory over the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 this afternoon, the AP reports. Zajac scored the Devils’ first goal at 2:02 and later assisted Mike Mottau for a goal, when Mottau knocked in the rebound on a near-miss. The win moved New Jersey into a tie with Ottawa and Montreal for the Eastern Conference points lead.

In the second, Pandolfo scored at 1:08 to widen the New Jersey lead to 3-0. Jeff Hamilton then bested Martin Brodeur to score the Hurricanes’ only goal. But the momentum was already with the Devils, as Johnny Oduya and Jeff Parise racked up two more. Parise’s goal, his 23rd this season, was made with only 2.2 seconds remaining. Brodeur made 21 saves for New Jersey. (More Carolina Hurricanes stories.)