Jack Hughes, Devils Ripped by Fans for Offensive Performance in Loss vs. Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes demolished the New Jersey Devils 5-1 in Game 1 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff matchup Wednesday.

The Devils had just one shot on goal over the first 25 minutes of the game, and it wasn't much of a chance at all.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes took a 3-0 lead in that span thanks to goals from Brett Pesce, Seth Jarvis and Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

New Jersey's second shot on goal resulted in a score from Nathan Bastian, but the Devils went quiet for the remainder of the evening. Carolina proceeded to score a pair of third-period goals courtesy of Brady Skjei and Jesper Fast.

This was an undoubtedly disappointing start for the Devils, who were two days removed from a resounding 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers to close their first-round series in seven games. New Jersey overcame a 2-0 game deficit after losing a pair of home matchups to start the best-of-seven series, but the Devils roared back to take down their rivals.

That team was nowhere to be found Wednesday.

Granted, the Devils clearly missed Timo Meier, who was out after taking a big hit from New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba in Game 7.

However, Carolina delivered a first-round knockout, and Twitter reacted to the performance.

The good news is that the Devils have experience winning playoff series after losing Game 1 by a 5-1 score after doing that against the Rangers. They'll look to bounce back in Carolina for Game 2 on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.