New Jersey Devils 4, Carolina Hurricanes 1 FINAL

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ One night after a disappointing loss, the New Jersey Devils were back to their usual tricks.

John Madden had a goal and an assist, and Martin Brodeur made 25 saves to help the Devils beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 Saturday night. New Jersey had won just once in five games, including an overtime defeat at Tampa Bay on Friday.

``It was good that we played back-to-back after what happened last night, that's for sure,'' said Scott Gomez, who had an assist for his seventh point in three games. ``Marty made some big saves there in the beginning.''

Brian Rafalski, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner also scored for the Devils. Paul Martin added two assists.

Erik Cole had a goal, and Kevin Weekes made 16 saves for Carolina.

``I thought we were disciplined in the way that we played the game,'' Brodeur said. ``But it wasn't that great. I think defensively we did get some chances. I think we scored early so I think that makes it (so) we didn't need to do more than what we did.''

The Devils didn't wait long to take control against Carolina. Just 3:18 in, Madden got open in front of the net, took a pass from Martin and hesitated before beating Weekes.

Rafalski made it 2-0, ripping a shot past Weekes during a New Jersey power play with 10:05 left in the first. His shot appeared to be tipped in front.

The two-goal lead was more than enough as Carolina, last in the NHL with 127 goals, was no match for Brodeur and the New Jersey defense.

``They had some chances but nothing crazy, not much on rebounds either,'' Brodeur said. ``It's definitely a good road game. The stage that we're at I think we're going to take a performance like that before going home.''

Brodeur set the tone with eight saves in the first period. Defenseman Scott Niedermayer also broke up one Carolina scoring opportunity, poking the puck away from Rod Brind'Amour in front of the New Jersey net.

Elias added his 31st goal and the 200th of his career in the second period as New Jersey built a 3-0 lead.

``We started slow,'' Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said. ``We left somebody point-blank open early in the game. They cashed in. They snapped one through on the power play and we're down 2-0, swimming upstream.''

Cole got Carolina on the board with 13.4 seconds left in the second, beating Brodeur to the right corner.

Brodeur made six stops in the third period and Langenbrunner took a pass from Madden and scored to provide the final margin for the Devils.

``It was a better 60-minute effort, not that it was a bad effort last night,'' New Jersey coach Pat Burns said. ``We scored a minute in, and we went through all the way to the end.''