RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — New Jersey Devils defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon are out with injuries for Tuesday night's Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Coach Sheldon Keefe ruled out both Hughes and Dillon after neither participated in the morning skate. The blue-liners both exited early from Sunday's Game 1 loss and skated off to the tunnel with assistance.
Keefe didn't specify the nature of those injuries, which are another hit for a squad that was already down prominent pieces before the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That means Simon Nemec — the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 draft — and Dennis Cholowski will draw in for the first postseason action of their careers.
“It's obviously big losses for us clearly, but not unlike anything we faced in the regular season,” Keefe said. “The message would remain the same in terms of our team's ability and need to step up. And the group has to rise above it. So we've been able to do it before, and I expect the same.”
Dillon went down hard after getting tangled with Carolina's William Carrier, then struggled to get to and stay on his feet in the second period. Keefe said after the loss that Dillon wanted to return but doctors wouldn't clear him.
Hughes was hurt in the third period after going down and ending up in the net, clutching at his left shoulder area — though he later returned to the game.
The Devils are already without top center Jack Hughes — who had shoulder surgery in March and is out for the season — while defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler has been out with a lower-body injury since February. Keefe had said previously Siegenthaler isn't expected back for this series.
Carolina dominated the series opener in a 4-1 win, scoring the game's first three goals and holding a 4-to-1 shot advantage late in the second period.
The Devils did get some good news with center Cody Glass, who was on the ice and is cleared to play. Glass was also hurt in Game 1 on the same chaotic play as Hughes, though his came when goaltender Jacob Markstrom took a whack at Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov atop the crease and instead struck Glass to send him crashing to the ice in pain.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Aaron Beard, The Associated Press
