RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes just wanted to be healthy going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, even as it meant resting key players and stumbling down the stretch of the regular season.

The first payoff came Sunday.

Logan Stankoven scored two second-period goals in his first playoff game with Carolina as the Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 to open their first-round series. Carolina led 3-0, more than doubled New Jersey’s shot output and kept the pressure on in a strong start to the postseason.

“Obviously it was pretty clear that I think we were looking forward to this day for a bit now,” goaltender Frederik Andersen said.

Jalen Chatfield scored a first-period goal for the Hurricanes, who kept steady pressure on Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-net clincher late in the third.

Carolina had lost seven of its last eight regular-season games since clinching its seventh straight playoff trip on April 3, several coming with stars and key contributors out of the lineup. In that sense, it had been a long wait to get here, back on home ice with a rowdy home crowd in playoff mode.

“There’s always that worry that maybe you come out a little sluggish or whatever,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “But obviously that wasn’t the case. And we were healthy, a healthy group. So it was a calculated risk maybe, but at least after Game 1, that was the right decision.”

Andersen finished with 23 saves for Carolina, including a key stop on Timo Meier near the crease midway through the third. The Hurricanes also turned away a Devils power play with about eight minutes left to stay in firm control.

Nico Hischier got New Jersey’s only goal by taking Jesper Bratt’s cross-ice pass and blasting the puck past Andersen during a 4-on-4 chance in the second.

Carolina finished with a 45-24 shot advantage.

“They’re not doing anything special,” Hischier said. “They play simple hockey, hard hockey, and we’ve just got to match that.”

Markstrom finished with 41 saves on what turned out to be a rough afternoon physically for the Devils, who had multiple players skating to the tunnel with injuries.

First defenseman Brenden Dillon went down in the second period after getting tangled with Carolina’s William Carrier, then struggled to stay on his feet before being helped to the tunnel. Coach Sheldon Keefe said Dillon wanted to return but doctors held him out.

Later, the Devils lost two players on a single chaotic sequence in the third, which started with defenseman Luke Hughes laying in the net then doubled over in pain while reaching for his left shoulder. Almost immediately, Markstrom took a whack at Svechnikov near the top of the crease only to inadvertently hit center Cody Glass and knock him to the ice

Maple Leafs 6, Senators 2 >> Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ottawa Senators 6-2 on Sunday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

William Nylander and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Morgan Rielly and Matthew Knies also scored for Toronto. Auston Matthews added two assists and Anthony Stolarz stopped 31 shots.

Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig scored for Ottawa, and Linus Ullmark finished with 18 saves.

The best-of-seven matchup continues Tuesday with Game 2 at Scotiabank Arena before shifting to Ottawa for two games.

The series opener marked the first playoff Battle of Ontario showdown in exactly 21 years when Toronto bested Ottawa 4-1 in Game 7 on April 20, 2004.