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 This time, they had an answer and they weren't rattled.
Goalie Cam Ward came up a big after a midgame rough stretch, and the
Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-2 Sunday at PNC Arena.
"There's never an easy game, it's the NHL," Carolina center Jordan
Staal said. "Teams are going to fight back. We took the foot off the
gas a little bit. But we had to find a way."
Ward finished with 23 saves, stopping all nine shots in the third
period.
Victor Rask scored twice and Ron Hainsey had a goal for the
Hurricanes (33-28-15).
"It's another stride and it's very nice to see," Staal said of Rask,
who reached the 20-goal mark.
Bobby Farnham and Travis Zajac scored for the Devils (36-32-8), who
had a three-game points streak snapped.
 The Devils were coming hard after pulling within a goal. That was
sort of a gut check for the Hurricanes.
"Everyone battled," Carolina center Jeff Skinner said. "Everyone
found a way to dig in."
Carolina coach Bill Peters said: "We just needed to regroup. Nothing
needed to be said. ... Once we started making more plays, we were
good again."
New Jersey rookie goalie Scott Wedgewood, who started his fourth
consecutive game, lost in regulation for the first time. He made 20
saves.
Wedgewood, who allowed a total of two goals in his first three
games, gave up three goals in slightly more than 22 minutes Sunday.
Ward hadn't played in Carolina's two previous games, but he was up
to the task as the Hurricanes won for only the second time in eight
games (2-2-4).
"There's a lot of character in this room," Staal said. "Everyone is
trying to show their potential."
Carolina played mostly alert in the defensive zone for the final 30
minutes.
"We had momentum there in the second (period) and chances to tie it
up," Farnham said. "But they packed it in a little harder in the
D-zone. We couldn't get that third one."
Carolina led 3-2 after two periods, but the Devils made a strong
second-period push after trailing by three goals.
"We came out and put ourselves behind the 8-ball," Farnham said.
"It's tough to come back. Down 3-0, I thought we really fought hard
to come back and give ourselves a chance."
Farnham's goal came unassisted to get the Devils on the board at
6:27 of the middle period after they were shut out across their
previous four periods.
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Farnham scored for the first time since Jan. 12, which was the last
game before he served a four-game suspension.
Zajac drew the Devils within 3-2 just 50 seconds later. An assist on
that goal went to left winger Blake Pietila for his first NHL point
in his third game this season. Pietila had the first good crack at
the goal on the sequence before Zajac cleaned up the rebound.
The Hurricanes held a 3-0 lead after Rask's second goal just 2:01
into the second period.
His first goal came on a four-on-three power play, marking
Carolina's second goal in a 36-second span.
Hainsey, who hadn't scored this month, opened the scoring for the
Hurricanes when he was left alone on the backside.
The opening 40 minutes were opposite for the Hurricanes from a night
earlier in an overtime loss to the New York Islanders. In that game,
Carolina started slowly before producing a big second period.
On Sunday, Carolina held a 14-3 edge in first-period shots. New
Jersey responded with a 13-5 shots advantage in the second period.
NOTES: Carolina won the season series 3-2 vs. New Jersey. ...
Hurricanes C Riley Nash was out of the lineup after he collided with
a post Saturday night. ... With a lineup of seven defensemen,
Carolina D Ryan Murphy was used as a winger for this game. ... C
Adam Henrique had the game-winning goal in five of the Devils' last
seven wins against Carolina. ... This game was the back end of the
final set of back-to-back games for Carolina. ... This was the first
of three road games in a stretch of a week for the Devils, but they
play home Tuesday night against the Boston Bruins. ... Carolina
plays its only road game during a five-game span Tuesday night
against the New York Rangers.
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