Devils Ripped by Fans for Costly OT Penalty in Elimination Loss vs. Hurricanes

The New Jersey Devils' season ended with a puck over the glass.

After Jonas Siegenthaler took a delay of game penalty in overtime of Game 5, the Carolina Hurricanes scored to eliminate Jack Hughes and the Devils from the second round with a 3-2 win Thursday night.

The Hurricanes will now advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Many hockey fans, both those watching from New Jersey and neutral observers, were unhappy to see the Devils' season end on an often-criticized penalty.

Meanwhile, Devils fans expressed sympathy for Siegenthaler, who shot the puck over the glass while clearing a pass from Tomas Tatar under pressure.

Back in the opening period, New Jersey struggled with puck management but headed into the break with 1-0 lead after a Dawson Mercer goal, eight saves by Akira Schmid, a Carolina post hit and Jesper Fast missing an empty net.

The two teams traded goals in the second period. Then, Devils fans experienced the pain Caniacs had suffered during Fast's earlier miss when Meier forced a turnover and got the puck from Jack Hughes right in front of a wide-open net.

Meier, still wearing the full face mask he donned after a first-round collision with Jacob Trouba's shoulder, missed.

The Devils, still riding the momentum of Meier's power-play strike, held the Hurricanes to just a single shot for 14 minutes. But in the final 30 seconds of the second period, a screened Schmid missed a long-distance wrister from Brent Burns. Carolina tied the game, 2-2.

Suddenly re-energized, the Hurricanes earned another dangerous chance off a face-off seconds later. A block from rookie Luke Hughes, who had joined John Marino on the second defense pairing for the middle frame, was all that kept New Jersey from heading into the third trailing by a goal.

After a scoreless third period, the final minutes of which were dominated by the Hurricanes as the exhausted Devils struggled to keep up, the contest went to overtime.

Siegenthaler took the delay of game penalty five minutes in to the extra frame. Fast, who whiffed on the empty net for Carolina earlier, was dead-on as he scored to end the game, 3-2.

As the Devils head back to Newark for locker clean out, the Hurricanes will go on to face either the Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs currently trail the Panthers in the series, 3-1, and Game 5 will take place in Sunrise, Florida on Friday.