Devils, North Carolina Governor Don’t See Eye to Eye After Physical Hurricanes Tilt

Following a physical tilt between the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes, an unlikely criticism was bestowed on the Devils.

MORE: Devils Takeaways: Questionable Officiating; Meier’s Major Lead to Devils Loss to Hurricanes

After the Devils routed in a 4-2 victory on Friday night, the division rivals met again on Saturday in a home-and-home situation.

Friday night’s tilt was a moderate victory for the Devils. However, Saturday’s tilt was when emotions ran high. In the third period, Timo Meier received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit that was determining “kneeing” on ‘Canes forward Martin Necas.

Later, Devils forward Erik Haula laid a hit on Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov which prompted a scrum between the division rivals. After the referees settled the dispute, Orlov jumped Haula on his way to the bench and both players were assessed roughing minors.

Following the Hurricanes’ 5-2 victory which saw Carolina and New Jersey split the season series 2-2, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper took to social media to criticize the Devils.

“Glad our Canes are done with the NJDevils for the regular season,” Cooper wrote on X. “Great win tonight while surviving some vicious hits. Devils are too good for such dirty play.”

Despite Cooper’s feelings on the kind of game New Jersey played, the Devils felt the Hurricanes swayed the opinions of the referees, which prompted some questionable officiating.

“The guy laying on the ice plays three and a half minutes of the five-minute major,” Sheldon Keefe said of the Meier ejection. “That’s a tough one. A tough message for the players that if you take a big hit, laying down on the ice has its benefits.”

Devils forward Paul Cotter ended an 18-game goaless drought on Saturday when he opened the scoring in the second period. When asked his thoughts on the Necas hit, Cotter didn’t hold back.

“I think there was an injury there that might have been blown out of proportion there by the player and our team didn’t like it, so we maybe were a little extra physical, and they pushed back. It happens, Cotter explained.”

The Devils’ head coach was even more puzzled with the Haula/Orlov situation. Haula lowered his shoulder and hit Orlov which didn’t draw a penalty. The Hurricanes took exception which prompted a scrum, however, there were no penalties until Orlov re-engaged with Haula unexpectedly.

The altercation drew a decent amount of blood on Orlov, which he could have avoided by skating away.

“I also thought the Orlov, Haula [situation]… for that one to be two minutes each and for us to be on the power play after an official escorts their player off the ice, that’s a tough one,” Keefe continued.

The Devils and Hurricanes certainly re-engaged a rivalry on Saturday. It’s clear the two teams don’t like each other, which would certainly make for an entertaining postseason matchup, whether Gov. Cooper likes it or not.

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