Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal totaled two assists in a 6-1 win over the New Jersey Devils in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals series Tuesday in Newark, N.J. File Photo by Alex Edelman/UPI | License Photo
May 10 (UPI) — Forward Jordan Martinook scored and registered two assists to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a dominant 6-1 win over the New Jersey Devils in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. They now own a 3-1 lead. Defensemen Brent Burns and Brett Pesce each logged a goal and an assist in the lopsided triumph Tuesday in Newark, N.J. Forward Martin Necas scored twice for the Hurricanes. Advertisement
The top-seeded Hurricanes are now just one win from clinching a spot in the Eastern Conference finals. Game 5 of the Hurricanes-Devils series will be Thursday in Raleigh, N.C.
“I just come and try to play hard every night,” Martinook told reporters. “I try to set the tone with my work ethic. … We’ve lost a lot of key guys and we need scoring from everywhere.”
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Later Tuesday, the No. 2 Dallas Stars also scored six goals in a 6-3 victory over the wild card Seattle Kraken in their Western Conference semifinals series. That series is now tied 2-2.
Devils forward Jack Hughes scored the first goal of the night when he beat Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen 1:55 into Tuesday’s opener. Necas answered with a game-tying score with 2:20 left in the first period.
Necas lit the lamp for the second time 7:26 into the second period. That goal was the second of six unanswered scores for the Hurricanes.
Pesce scored about two minutes after the second Necas goal. Forward Jesper Fast, Burns and Martinook added three more scores in the second half of the second period. Neither team scored over the final 20:24.
Andersen made 21 saves in the victory. Forward Jordan Staal chipped in two assists for the Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes will host the Devils in Game 5 at 7 p.m. EDT Thursday in Raleigh.
In the late game, the Stars raced out to a 4-0 lead and held off a third-period rally to even their Western Conference semifinals series with the Kraken.
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Stars forward Max Domi scored twice and logged an assist in the win. Fellow forwards Jamie Benn and Roope Hintz and defenseman Thomas Harley each scored one goal and logged one assist for the Stars.
Benn started the scoring by beating Kraken net minder Philipp Grubauer off a power play 17:13 into the first period. Harley, Domi and forward Joe Pavelski each scored within the first 10:50 of the second period to push the Stars lead to 4-0.
Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz, who scored twice in the loss, beat Stars goalie Jake Oettinger for the first time 11:46 into the second period. Hintz pushed the Stars lead back to four with another score with 53 seconds left in the frame.
Schwartz scored the second Stars goal 3:24 into the third period. Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson lit the lamp again with 4:11 remaining, cutting the deficit to two goals.
Domi second the victory with the final goal of the night with 2:21 remaining.
The Stars will host the Kraken in Game 5 at 9:30 p.m. Thursday in Dallas. The winner of the series will face the top-seeded Vegas Golden Knights or No. 2 Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference finals.
The Golden Knights, who lead that series 2-1, will face the Oilers at 10 p.m. Wednesday in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
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The wild card Florida Panthers will host the No. 2 Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 of that Eastern Conference semifinals series in opener of Wednesday’s Stanley Cup playoffs slate. That game will start at 7 p.m. in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers lead the series 3-0.
The winner of the Panthers-Maple Leafs series will meet the Devils or Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals.