Hurricanes dominate Devils to take commanding 3-1 series lead

Jordan Martinook had a goal and two assists and the Carolina Hurricanes scored five times in the second period to beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 in Newark on Tuesday night for a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Hurricanes have outscored New Jersey 17-3 in their three wins. The five goals in the second period were the most the Devils have given up in a period this season.

The Canes, who edged the Devils for the Metropolitan Division title, can wrap up the best-of-seven series Thursday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Despite being down 2-1, New Jersey seemed to have the momentum coming into Game 4. It posted a one-sided 8-4 win on Sunday and had things going their way after Hughes' early tip for his sixth goal of the postseason.

Things changed late in the opening period when Martinook set up Necas with a deft flip pass for shot in close that beat Vitek Vanecek.

Everything went the Hurricanes way in the second period. They got a couple of friendly bounces off Devils' sticks, and then poured it on as a time out by New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff and later a goaltender change to first-round hero Akira Schmid didn't change the luck.

Martinook, who didn't score a point in the six-game first-round win over the Islanders, was at the centre of things in the big second period, which featured the first four goals in a 5:20 span.

Necas put Carolina ahead at 7:26 when Devils defenceman Jonas Siegenthaler deflected a cross-ice pass by Pesce and it went to the Carolina forward alone in front.

Martinook closed out the five-goal spree by beating Schmid on a break at 19:36.

Vanecek allowed five goals on 17 shots.

Hughes got the Devils on the board at 1:55, tipping Timo Meier's shot between Andersen's pads for his sixth goal. Necas tied at 17:40 in close.

Stars even series with Kraken

Joe Pavelski scored his sixth goal of the series as part of a four-goal second period for Dallas, and the visiting Stars routed the Seattle Kraken 6-3 on Tuesday night in Game 4 to even the Western Conference semifinal series.

Pavelski scored four goals in the series opener, added a fifth in Game 2 and gave the Stars a 4-0 lead midway through the second period of Game 4.

Pavelski's goal came on a power play after Seattle had challenged for goaltender interference on Max Domi's second goal of the playoffs that gave Dallas a 3-0 lead. The challenge failed and Pavelski made Seattle pay on the ensuing power play.

Pavelski's goal was his 70th career playoff goal, tying him with Steve Yzerman for 19th place. The only active players with more playoff goals are Alex Ovechkin (72) and Sidney Crosby (71).

Jamie Benn scored late in the first period to give Dallas the early advantage, just his third goal in his past 23 playoff games, and defenceman Thomas Harley made it 2-0 early in the second period. Harley had one career goal in 40 regular season games, but beat goalie Philipp Grubauer high on the stick side.

Roope Hintz capped Dallas' big second period outburst with his sixth of the playoffs at 19:07 of the period.

Domi scored an empty-net goal with 2:21 left for the Stars.

Oettinger, who was pulled after allowing five goals on 17 shots in Game 3, had a quiet first two periods before some key stops in the third, and finished with 16 saves.

Meanwhile, Grubauer was peppered by Dallas chances from the very start and the damage from the Stars could have been far worse. Grubauer finished with 17 saves on 22 shots and was replaced by Martin Jones for the third period.