The New Jersey Devils could not get back on track and lost again on Saturday night with a 6-3 road loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Ilya Kovalchuk had two goals for New Jersey and Patrik Elias had the other, but the Devils could not recover in another game where they fell behind, this time by a score of 5-1 after two periods.
Jeff Frazee came in relief of Johan Hedberg in the third period to make his NHL debut and finished with three saves. Hedberg stopped only 13 of 18 Carolina shots through two periods as his play continues to struggle and was pulled for the second time in three games.
It was New Jersey's seventh loss in eight games without top goalie Martin Brodeur, who is still sitting out with a sore back and has no timetable for returning.
"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."
Ilya Kovalchuk has two goals and three assists in his last four games, but most of the Devils offense continues to have trouble finding goals. Devils captain Bryce Salvador didn't make the trip to Carolina because of an upper body injury and is listed as day-to-day.
The Devils will look for a quick turnaround on Sunday evening as they return home to face the Winnipeg Jets for a 7 p.m. face-off at the Prudential Center. Johan Hedberg will start in net again for New Jersey.
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