Devils Crush Hurricanes

New Jersey vs. Carolina
series

Stevens, who sent Shawn Willis to hospital with a concussion in Game 2, delivered a thunderous blow to Hurricanes captain Ron Francis in the first period knocking him out of the game.

"I've never seen anything like it," Ken Daneyko said of Stevens. "We don't see it coming from the bench and it's clean as can be. He's like one of those rare middle linebacker-type guys that sees the puck coming and times it perfectly."

The Devils said that Stevens' hit was clean, but Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice disagreed.

"I don't think you can leave your feet on a hit like that," Maurice said. "But depending on what your zip code is it'll be a clean hit or a jump."

Devils can finish the series with a win in Game 4 on Wednesday.

"If they can't take the hitting maybe they should change professions," Devils coach Larry Robinson said. "The last time I looked this was a physical game and body checking was allowed. Basically, they dug a hole for themselves taking all those penalties."