Friday night’s double-overtime victory doesn’t mean the New Jersey Devils will win this series. It doesn’t even mean they’ll reach Game 6. They are still the heavy underdogs and trailing 2-1 against a Carolina Hurricanes team that is healthier and has more recent playoff success.

After a goalless second period, Dawson Mercer quickly doubled the Devils lead at 1:20 of the third period. Seth Jarvis scored a power-play goal with a snapshot at 6:11 of the third to bring Carolina within one. Sebastian Aho scored a second power-play goal to tie the game and send it to sudden-death overtime. As Nico Hischier said: It’s a series.

With the Devils’ defense hurting, Nemec scored a game-winning goal early in the second overtime against the Hurricanes in Game 3 of the first-round series on Friday, minutes before midnight. The 3-2 win at Prudential Center pulled New Jersey to 2-1 in the series with Game 4 set at home for Sunday.