Devils Mocked by Twitter for Blowout Loss to Hurricanes to Go Down 3-1 in Series

The Carolina Hurricanes scored five second period goals—including four in a 5:20 span—en route to defeating the New Jersey Devils 6-1 in Game 4 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series.

Any good will the Devils created with an 8-4 win over Carolina in Game 3 went completely out the window in Game 4 after a disastrous performance that now puts New Jersey in a 3-1 hole in this best-of-seven matchup.

Martin Necas, who scored a first period goal to knot the game at one by intermission, netted his second 7:26 into the second.

That opened the floodgates as Brett Pesce (9:51), Jesper Fast (11:07), Brent Burns (12:46) and Jordan Martinook (19:36) vaulted Carolina into a 6-1 lead.

The third period was a moot point, and now the Devils are staring down elimination heading back to Carolina for Game 5.

The story of this game was the giveaway differential: New Jersey had 26 of them compared to just two for Carolina.

New Jersey also benched goaltender Vitek Vanecek after he allowed five goals on 17 shots and went back to Akira Schmid.

The Hurricanes outscored the Devils 11-2 in their pair of victories in Carolina. Game 1 saw the Devils register just one shot on goal over the first 25 minutes. Game 2 featured the Hurricanes scoring four second period goals.

The Devils' offense was sensational en route to eight goals in Game 3, bringing about hope of tying the series up at two in Newark on Tuesday. A Jack Hughes goal less than two minutes int the game got New Jersey off to a great start.

However, it was all downhill from there as Carolina finds itself one win away from the Stanley Cup semifinals.

In the meantime, the Devils' season is firmly on the brink. The campaign is not over yet, but it's looking awfully bleak after scuffling through a terrible period.

Twitter reacted to the performance.

Carolina will host Game 5 on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.