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GAME 1:
After capturing the Southeast Division title for third seed in the East, the Carolina Hurricanes go up against the two-time Stanley Cup champions New Jersey Devils. A rough team with physical advantage, the Canes got off to a hot start against the hardened Devils in the first period, with their top line members Rod Brind'Amour and Erik Cole scoring a pair. Brind'Amour popped in a power-play goal at 8:21, and Cole followed up 1:22 later to beat Canadian 2002 Olympic gold medal winner Martin Brodeur with his own goal to make the score 2-0. The teams would spend the next 38 minutes shooting at each other until the Devils finally scored on a power-play at 7:31 in the third period. Patrick Elias was the one to score, but it would not be enough, as the Hurricanes peppered Brodeur with 35 shots, compared to just 17 shots against Carolina's Arturs Irbe, for a win of 2-1.
GAME 2:
The first period of the close second game in Carolina was uneventful, but when Bobby Holik stepped on the ice for New Jersey at the start of the second, it marked the first goal of the game. Holik scored on Arturs Irbe just 37 seconds into the period, breaking the 0-0 tie and putting the Devils up for the first time in the series. But by the end of the period, Carolina's "BBC" line tied the game again with Erik Cole's second of the series, and it was back to square one. Neither team managed to get another puck in the net before the end of the third, however, so it was off to overtime. Statistically, the Canes had the advantage in the extra period, with a high record of wins & ties in overtime during the regular season. Their reputation stood up as Irbe made a total of 30 saves before Bates Battaglia finished the game with his overtime goal, sending the Canes to New Jersey 2-0 in the best of seven series.
GAME 3:
After losing the first two games of the series by a single goal, the Devils had to make their mark on Carolina. Brian Gionta scored at 7:48 to give New Jersey an early lead, and less than two minutes later Brian Rafalski scored a power-play goal to put the Devils up 2-0. Then, with New Jersey again on the power-play at the start of the second period, Bobby Holik scored his second of the playoffs, sending Arturs Irbe to the bench to be replaced by young backup Kevin Weekes. It would not be enough to save the Hurricanes though, as Carolina had only 16 shots on Martin Brodeur, all of which were stopped. Brian Rafalski scored his second of the game to make a final score of 4-0 and giving the Devils their first win of the series.
GAME 4:
With Martin Brodeur's shutout at home in game three, the two teams met again in New Jersey. The Devils once again took the early lead when Holik scored 1:16 into the first period. Then at 17:31, Brian Gionta shot one past Arturs Irbe to give the Devils 2-0. Remembering their defeat in game three, Carolina head coach Paul Maurice decided to pull Irbe from the net again and replace him with Kevin Weekes for the second period. The strategy seemed to help as Weekes went the whole period without allowing a goal, but 6:23 into the third period, Brian Rafalski scored his third of the series to put the Canes down 3-0. A lone goal by Carolina's Aaron Ward with 2:37 left in the game was not good enough to reclaim any hope for the team, so New Jersey would move on back to the Carolina arena tied 2-2 in the series.
GAME 5:
Kevin Weekes would make his first start as goalie for Carolina in the series, while #1 netminder Arturs Irbe took a rest on the bench. Hoping to continue his team's winning streak, Bobby Holik scored his fourth goal in as many games to take another lead for the Devils at 11:30 of the first. Weekes and Brodeur would hold off each other's teams for 23 minutes, when Martin Gelinas tied the game at 1-1 for Carolina. Then another 18 minutes would tick by before New Jersey's Patrick Elias scored mid-way through the third period to put the Devils back up 2-1. But when the Devils recieved a penalty late in the game, it was Jeff O'Neill who forced overtime with only 1:29 to go. With Carolina once again back in their favoured position in overtime, the teams battled it out until Josef Vasicek put the game away at 8:16, giving the Canes a score of 3-2, with their series tally at the same. Kevin Weekes managed to stop 40 shots during his first full game in the playoffs.
GAME 6:
Coming off of a close win in game five, Kevin Weekes again started as Carolina's goaltender, and would not disappoint as he made 32 saves to record his first career postseason shutout. The Hurricanes took the series 4-2 on captain Ron Francis' lone power-play goal half-way through the game, blanking the Devils 1-0 to move on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the first time in many years. They surprised many people by defeating the Devils, who, although only sixth-seeded in the playoffs, had more points than Carolina in the regular season and had a stronger recent history. The next round would see Carolina vs. Montréal, a series pitting an inexperienced team against one of the oldest in the league, with 24 cup wins.
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