RALEIGH, N.C. _ The Carolina Hurricanes were looking for a strong, fast start Sunday against the New Jersey Devils.
But two goals in the first 30 seconds? That's strong. That's fast.
Less than 24 hours after a loss to Columbus that team captain Justin Williams called a "dud" and unacceptable, the Canes returned to the PNC Arena ice a determined group. As Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour said, "When you play a game you don't like, the best way to rectify that is to go play again and redeem yourselves."
The Canes did that, making the two goals stand up for a 2-1 victory as goalie Curtis McElhinney stopped 33 shots.
Williams got things started, taking a pass from Jordan Staal and beating goalie Cory Schneider with a five-hole shot. The goal, Williams' second of the season and first in 15 games, came at 22 seconds of the first.
Eight seconds later, it was 2-0. Micheal Ferland scored off the rush, taking a sharp cross-ice pass from Teuvo Teravainen and beating Schneider high to the short side.
It was the quickest two goals to start a period in franchise history. Not that the game had been decided in the first 30 seconds.
The Devils' Pavel Zacha scored later in the first, beating McElhinney with a backhander and it was still 2-1 entering the third period.
Schneider, who had lost his last 15 games (0-13-2) and had offseason hip surgery, steadied after the early Canes flurry. McElhinney made his share of quality stops as the Devils outshot the Canes in each of the first two periods.
The Canes killed off two penalties in the second period to hold on to the lead. They had a chance to add to it early in the third but couldn't get a shot on goal during a power play.
The Canes' season has mirrored the Devils'. Carolina opened 4-0-1, then had gone 4-8-2 before Sunday. The Devils, in turn, had a 4-0-0 start, then had gone 4-8-2.
Brind'Amour was angry about the Canes' lack of jump and sluggish effort Saturday in a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jackets, using his timeout midway through the game for a brief tirade at the bench.
With a late-afternoon start Sunday, the Canes did not have long to dwell on all that went wrong in the loss. It was on to the next one, with the only lineup change McElhinney in net after Scott Darling played against Columbus.
McElhinney was making his first start since Nov. 6, when he took the loss in a road game against the St. Louis Blues.
