Joe Corvo took a big shot in overtime of Game 3 on Sunday, moments before the Devils scored the winner to in a 3-2 victory to take a 2-1 lead in the series, and you don’t have to know Corvo that well to know how badly he wanted that shot to go in.

His blunder in the waning seconds of the first period put the Canes down a goal, and he took a beating in search of redemption, butt-ended in the face by Bobby Holik (drawing a penalty) and slashed on the back of the left knee by Colin White late in the third period (when the officials weren’t looking).

NEWARK, N.J. — For Canes defenseman Joe Corvo, playing the New Jersey Devils means a lot of things, none of them pleasurable.

It's dealing with the Devils' deliberate, defensive, wait-for-a-mistake-and-pounce style of play. For much of the game, it will mean dealing with the Devils' Zach Parise, a hard-charging 45-goal scorer who can be a game-breaker.

Parise, Corvo said, is a problem because of "stuff you can't see if you're watching the game."

"He uses his stick a lot, puts his stick in your hands," he said. "He gets his stick in places that are borderline places."

For the Hurricanes, it's one last back-to-back set.

And another three games in four nights. And another four in six.

"It's ridiculous," defenseman Joe Corvo said today of the scheduling. "That's all you can say about it — it's ridiculous.

"And then coming into the end of the season we're getting four-day breaks. It doesn't make any sense."

Chuck Kaiton's call on Joe Corvo's second goal Friday night was some classic stuff from the Hall of Fame broadcaster:

"He'll return it to Corvo, another one, heshootshescores! Off the shoulder of McKenna! Joe Corvo is setting up on the tee. He hit the first one 350 down the middle and on the par-3 he hit a little 5-iron 170 and put it within three feet of the hole to make it 4-1 at 4:17."

(Thanks to Kaiton for sending along the audio clip.)

The Eastern Conference standings, posted prominently in the Hurricanes' locker room, are a stark reminder.

As of this morning, the Canes are five points behind Florida and Buffalo, five points out of a playoff spot. Both the Panthers and Sabres scored shootout victories Friday night, picking up points, slipping further ahead.

"It's been the same thing for a couple of weeks now," defenseman Joe Corvo said today. "It's no big surprise.

"We need to get back on track and put some wins together and hope Florida loses its horseshoe eventually or some of those teams. When you have teams like Toronto just handing away points in the third period, it makes it pretty difficult."

The day after the Carolina Hurricanes fell 5-0 to the Florida Panthers, coach Paul Maurice went to the drawing board during practice Friday.

“The first two goals, we left a hole in the middle of the ice because we just didn’t work hard enough to get back there,” said Maurice.

Maurice said the game had to be dealt with, and was today, but that team wasn’t as bad as the score suggested. Likewise, he said they weren’t as good Saturday in their 7-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes as that score would suggest. He looked at the big picture and noted that his team is 6-3-0 in their last nine games.

Erik Cole’s impending return to the RBC Center with the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday should mark one of the few times Carolina Hurricanes fans have had a real chance to salute one of their departed favorites.

Ron Francis, Arturs Irbe and Glen Wesley, just to name a few, were traded elsewhere but never played against the Hurricanes in Raleigh. A few returned to abuse — Keith Primeau tops that list — and a few to acclaim, like Matt Cullen and Aaron Ward when they returned with the New York Rangers less than five months after winning the Stanley Cup with the Canes.

Put it all together, and you get Tuesday’s Top Five: The top five Hurricanes homecomings.