Hurricanes-Devils Game 4: The four factors that will determine the winner
The New Jersey Devils won Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes in an 8-4 rout, as their offensive stars found their speed and room to operate in ways they simply weren’t allowed to during two losses in Raleigh.
Will that continue? Or can the Hurricanes take Game 4 in Newark on Tuesday night (7 ET, ESPN) to bring a 3-1 series lead back home, where they’ve been the best defensive team in the playoffs (1.80 goals-against average)?
Here are four keys to Game 4 between the Hurricanes and Devils, the latter of whom are trying to rally from a 2-0 deficit for the second straight series.
Which goalies will show up?
We mean this literally and figuratively.
Hurricanes goalie Antti Raanta returned to practice on Monday after missing two games because of illness. Coach Rod Brind’Amour wasn’t sure whether he would play in Game 4. “Hopefully. It would be nice to have some options,” he said.
That’s because Frederik Andersen was pulled in Game 3 after giving up four goals on 12 shots in 20:53. According to Evolving Hockey, he had a minus-2.24 goals saved above expected. After Andersen gave up only one goal in each of his previous three playoff games, he wasn’t good in Game 3.
But that doesn’t mean Raanta gets the call if he’s healthy. Keep in mind that Raanta is a different goalie at home than on the road. Away from Raleigh, Raanta is 1-6 in his past seven games, with an .884 save percentage. At home, he’s 8-1 in his past 11 games with a .943 save percentage.
“We know he’s a good goalie who’s got great experience,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said of Raanta. “We’re going to have to work hard and find holes if he plays.”
Ruff has his own goaltending questions to answer.
Vitek Vanecek started Games 1 and 2 against the New York Rangers, and was lit up. Ruff switched to rookie Akira Schmid, who confidently backstopped their rally to win the series in seven games. Schmid gave up seven goals on 36 shots in two games in Raleigh and Ruff flipped back to Vanecek for the Game 3 win.
All signs point to Vanecek getting the start again in Game 4, but he also posted a negative goals-saved above expected (minus-1.14) for the game. Granted, the Devils hung him out to dry on a couple of short-handed chances, and he didn’t stop a Jordan Martinook penalty shot. But outside of a few saves, Vanecek didn’t look incredibly sharp, which was something he acknowledged.
“Akira took care of the first round. He was really good. There wasn’t a thing he did bad,” Vanecek said. “He had two tough games [against Carolina] and they gave me an opportunity. I wasn’t great [in Game 3], but the win counts and that’s what we need.”
Both the Devils and Hurricanes will seek better goaltending in Game 4.
Manage energy
The Devils and Hurricanes are playing the only second-round series without a multiday break.
While Carolina bought some time to recuperate after eliminating the New York Islanders in six games, that was a physical and grinding series. The Devils, meanwhile, went seven games with the Rangers and then immediately hopped into their series with the Hurricanes. New Jersey has played every other day since April 27, a trend that will continue until this series ends.
Of course, having to worry about energy expenditure means you’re still playing in the postseason, which suits Ruff just fine.
“It’s a great difficulty to have,” he said. “Going through a playoff run and finding out how much is going to be enough.”
For Carolina, flush the loss
Brind’Amour labeled Game 3 as a “weird” one, and he’s not wrong. Lots of goals. Lots of penalties. An uncharacteristically bad start for the Hurricanes, who fell behind 3-0 just 13 minutes in, despite usually playing tight defensive first periods.
“It’s never fun to come off of a game like that,” Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “But all you can do at this point in the year is flush it. To spot them like we did in the first period like that is never a good thing.”
Brind’Amour said it was a combination of things that allowed the Devils to find their speed game in a way they couldn’t in Raleigh.
“In Games 1 and 2, everything went our way. Maybe it went their way [in Game 3],” he said. “But like I said, they were on it. They were better than we were.”
Brind’Amour, who celebrates his five-year anniversary as Carolina coach on Tuesday, likes to preach about “the stress game” to his players: Putting their opponents in a state of panic with the tenacity of their play. It’s what the Hurricanes did so well at home in Games 1 and 2, using their forecheck and a puck-hounding defense to frustrate the Devils. It’s what was missing in Game 3.
“They got more pucks in deep,” Slavin said. “We didn’t and we couldn’t establish our forecheck.”
That’ll be paramount for the Canes in Game 4.
For New Jersey, the stars must shine
The Devils’ offensive breakout in Game 3 was a story of determination and deployment.
No one was more upset than captain Nico Hischier after the first two losses on the road. “We should be really pissed off right now,” he said after Game 2.
Hischier played like he was trying to prove something in Game 3. He had eight shot attempts, four shots on goal and a goal scored at 5-on-5. That included four rebound attempts and two rebounds created. He was an absolute force in Game 3, and the Devils took their cue from their leader.
For Jack Hughes, who had two goals and two assists in Game 3, the story was deployment. Carolina has one of the best defensive centers in the NHL in Jordan Staal. Postseason after postseason, he has smothered the other team’s best offensive players when Brind’Amour gets his matchups in Raleigh. On the road, opposing coaches make it a point to get their stars as far away from Staal as possible.
In Game 1, Staal shared the ice with Hughes for 9:25. In Game 2, it was 10:40. But in Game 3, Ruff got his young star away from Staal, who shared the ice with Hughes for only 3:40.
The Devils saw many of their star players hit the score sheet in Game 3 — heck, even Timo Meier registered his first point of the playoffs with a first-period goal. Ruff said it’s possible some weight will be lifted off his players.
“You get automatic relief. You can talk about not feeling the pressure, but you do. Every game is such a big game and you want to be a difference maker,” he said. “Every guy has a tough stretch. It just gets magnified in the playoffs.”
Not many are expecting another 12-goal game between the Devils and Hurricanes. Game 4 should return back to a more tightly played battle. Regardless of whether the Hurricanes get their matchups or play better defense in Game 4, Ruff said the Devils can’t play as tentatively as they did in their first two losses.
“You might make some mistakes. You’re going to have to make plays under duress. Some of those decisions might not be the best,” he said. “But in order to create, you’re going to have to put some risk in your game.”
The 2025 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby is fast approaching — and the field is starting to take shape.
Braves hometown hero Ronald Acuna Jr. become the first player to commit to the event, which will be held at Truist Park in Atlanta on July 14 (8 p.m. ET on ESPN). He has since been followed by MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.
As the entrants are announced, we’ll add them to the running list below — and break down their chances at taking home this year’s Derby prize.
Full All-Star Game coverage: How to watch, schedule, rosters, more
2025 home runs: 9 | Longest: 467 feet
Why he could win: Acuna has been crushing it since he returned to the lineup May 23 after knee surgery. Indeed, his numbers are even better than during his MVP season in 2023. It should help that he’ll be hitting in front of his home fans in Atlanta: Todd Frazier in Cincinnati in 2015 and Bryce Harper with the Nationals in 2018 rode the loud support to Derby titles. Acuna’s raw power should also translate well to the Derby: Among players with at least 500 at-bats since 2023, he has the longest average home run distance in the majors.
Why he might not: Will he run into Pete Alonso again? Acuna competed in the 2019 and 2022 contests, losing both times to Alonso by a single home run (in the semifinals in 2019 and in the first round in 2022). The home-field advantage can also perhaps be a detriment if a player gets too hyped up in the first round. See Julio Rodriguez in Seattle in 2023, when he had a monster first with 41 home runs but then tired out in the second round.
2025 home runs: 35 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: It’s the season of Cal! The Mariners’ catcher is having one of the greatest slugging first halves in MLB history, with 32 home runs, as he’s been crushing mistakes all season . His easy raw power might be tailor-made for the Derby — he ranks in the 87th percentile in average exit velocity and delivers the ball, on average, at the optimal home run launch angle of 23 degrees. His calm demeanor might also be perfect for the contest as he won’t get too amped up.
Why he might not: He’s a catcher — and one who has carried a heavy workload, playing in all but one game this season. This contest is as much about stamina as anything, and whether Raleigh can carry his power through three rounds would be a concern. No catcher has ever won the Derby, with only Ivan Rodriguez back in 2005 even reaching the finals.
2025 home runs: 23 | Longest: 451 feet
Why he could win: He’s big, he’s strong, he’s young, he’s awesome, he might or might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. This is the perfect opportunity for Wood to show his talent on the national stage, and he wouldn’t be the first young player to star in the Derby. He ranks in the 97th percentile in average exit velocity and 99th percentile in hard-hit rate, so he can still muscle the ball out in BP even if he slightly mishits it. His long arms might be viewed as a detriment, but remember the similarly tall Aaron Judge won in 2017.
Why he might not: His natural swing isn’t a pure uppercut — he has a pretty low average launch angle of just 6.2 degrees — so we’ll see how that plays in a rapid-fire session. In real games, his power is primarily to the opposite field, but in a Home Run Derby you can get more cheapies pulling the ball down the line.
2025 home runs: 20 | Longest: 479 feet
Why he can win: Buxton’s raw power remains as impressive as nearly any hitter in the game. He crushed a 479-foot home run earlier this season and has four others of at least 425 feet. Indeed, his “no doubter” percentage — home runs that would be out of all 30 parks based on distance — is 75%, the highest in the majors among players with more than a dozen home runs. His bat speed ranks in the 89th percentile. In other words, two tools that could translate to a BP lightning show.
Why he won’t: Buxton is 31 and the Home Run Derby feels a little more like a younger man’s competition. Teoscar Hernandez did win last year at age 31, but before that, the last winner older than 29 was David Ortiz in 2010, and that was under much different rules than are used now.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Pittsburgh Pirates are back on the board after Tommy Pham‘s two-run home run in the third inning at Kansas City on Monday night ended a 30-inning scoreless streak.
The Pirates had been shut out in all three games at Seattle during their previous series.
However, they tallied another loss against the Royals, losing 9-3.
The scoreless streak included Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the Mariners in which Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes threw 10 strikeouts in five scoreless innings before the Pirates gave up a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Before beginning this nine-game trip with the sweep by the Mariners, the Pirates had blanked the St. Louis Cardinals in three consecutive home games. Their streak of playing in six straight shutouts matched the longest in major league history.
Pham, a 12-year veteran who is in his first season with the Pirates, bookended the scoreless skid with RBIs. He drove in a seventh-inning run with a groundout Wednesday during the 5-0 victory over the Cardinals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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