RALEIGH — The Carolina Hurricanes could have hung their heads in the third period of Thursday’s season-opening game against the visiting New Jersey Devils. The home team hit seven posts, and Jesper Bratt’s goal with just over eight minutes left tied a game Carolina could have run away with.
Seth Jarvis, in particular, could have been down on himself after losing Bratt on the tying goal.
“I owed the team one back,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis — who hit a pair of posts earlier in the game — kept pushing, getting position on former teammate Brett Pesce in front of the net and redirecting a Sebastian Aho feed past New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom for the go-ahead goal with just under three minutes left in the Hurricanes’ 6-3 win at Lenovo Center.
“I’m just happy,” said Jarvis, who added an empty-net goal with 55 seconds left for his second goal of the night. “It doesn’t always work out like that, but I’m happy I could get it back.”
One person who didn’t have to hang his head regardless of the result was new defenseman K’Andre Miller. Miller, who didn’t play in the preseason while recovering from an offseason ailment, introduced himself to Raleigh with two goals in just over 19 minutes of ice time in his Hurricanes debut.
“I think that was one of the biggest things, just making a good first impression,” Miller said. “I think the guys have done an amazing job of getting me caught up to speed, and this adjustment period has been honestly very simple, very easy.”
After scoring in the second period on a seeing-eye shot from the point, Miller’s second goal was more for the highlight reels.
Late in Carolina’s fourth and final power play of the night, Aho got Miller the puck at the left point, and the defenseman moved to the top of the circles and blasted a shot that hit Markstrom (27 saves) and fluttered in to put Carolina ahead 3-2 just past the midway point of the third period.
“It won’t happen too often,” Miller joked of scoring twice for the third time in his career.
Brind’Amour called Miller’s debut “exceptional.”
“Take the goals away even — just impactful,” Brind’Amour said. “For a guy who hadn’t played a game yet, he’s been out for how many months, and he stepped right in and looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. So obviously, we’re pretty excited to have him.”
But just over a minute later, a Pesce pass found its way through a maze of players to Bratt — who had beat Jarvis to the net — at the far post as the Devils erased a Hurricanes lead for the third time in the game.
“Just keep going, right?” Brind’Amour said.
Jarvis did that and got redemption while also adding an empty-netter, and Eric Robinson scored off a Taylor Hall feed with 13 seconds left in the game to put icing on the cake.
Hall, the former Hart Trophy winner and first overall pick now playing a fourth-line role in pursuit of his first Stanley Cup, helped Carolina get off to a fast start.
Despite losing an offensive faceoff, the Hurricanes got the puck to the point thanks to Robinson winning the race off the draw and sending it up the left boards.
Alexander Nikishin quickly passed across to partner Shayne Gostisbehere, who one-timed a shot that was redirected waist-high by Taylor Hall in the right circle and went past Markstrom to make it 1-0 at 4:06 of the opening period.
“I don’t score a lot of deflection goals, a lot of tip goals, but I’ll take any one I can get,” Hall said.
The assist was the first regular season point of Nikishin’s career — he had one assist in four playoff games last spring.
New Jersey tied the game before the midway part of regulation when Bratt got Dougie Hamilton the puck between the hashmarks, and the Devils’ defenseman backhanded a shot through Frederik Andersen (19 saves) to make it 1-1 at 8:15 of the middle frame.
It didn’t take long for Carolina to recapture the lead.
William Carrier dug the puck out of the corner in the New Jersey end and passed to Miller, who punched the puck toward the net. The shot hit Devils captain Nico Hischier and tumbled past Markstrom for a 2-1 Hurricanes lead at 9:23 of the second.
“You could tell from the first time he stepped on the ice at practice in training camp that he’s a special player,” Jarvis said of Miller. “And he’s still young, so I can only imagine what levels he’s going to get to.”
The Devils, however, answered quickly.
New Jersey caught the Hurricanes out of position, and Luke Hughes’ pass sprung Cody Glass for a 2-on-1. Glass shot far side past Andersen to tie the score again with just over 6 minutes left in the second.
But Carolina had four of the five goals scored in the final 10 minutes to start the season with a win over a division rival.
“I love the fact that we didn’t hang our heads,” Brind’Amour said, “even when they kept tying it up. … They just kept moving forward. So it was a good first step, for sure.”
Notes: Goalie Pyotr Kochetkov (undisclosed) did not dress for Carolina, and New Jersey’s Stefan Noesen (groin) and Johnathan Kovacevic (knee) did not play for the Devils. … Gostisbehere and Aho each had two assists. … Pesce played his 700th career game. … Nikolaj Ehlers played 19:35 in his Hurricanes debut, more than he played in every game but one last season with the Jets. He had 19:41 in an overtime loss to Anaheim on Jan. 2. … There were 48 total giveaways in the game, and Hamilton had a game-high five.
