Cam Ward continued his recent surge for the Hurricanes, making 26 saves. The Carolina goalie won all three of his starts last week and posted a 1.33 goals against-average with a .944 save percentage.
Paul Martin scored a power-play goal for the Devils in the third period to break Ward's shutout. Patrik Elias added another with 21.5 seconds left to bring the Devils within one.
New Jersey had won four of its past five.
With the victory, Carolina forward Brandon Sutter got the best of his father, New Jersey coach Brent Sutter. It was the fifth time in NHL history a father coached against his son.
Sutter nearly scored a goal, hitting the post late in the second period.
The Hurricanes opened the scoring 1:03 into the game when Rod Brind'Amour forced a turnover behind the Devils' net.
Brind'Amour stole the puck from New Jersey defenseman Bryce Salvador and fed it out front to Whitney, who beat New Jersey goalie Scott Clemmensen glove side.
There weren't many scoring chances over the next two periods, but Carolina took advantage of a Zach Parise penalty to build its lead shortly before the second intermission.
With Parise in the box for delay of game, Carolina defenseman Joe Corvo carried the puck over the blue line and tried to shovel it ahead to Samsonov. After a deflection, Samsonov corralled the puck and tried to center it, but the puck went off Martin's skate and past Clemmensen.
Ruutu added to the Hurricanes' lead when he finished a nice pass from defenseman Anton Babchuk midway through the third period.
New Jersey pulled Clemmensen both times it got a power play after Ruutu's goal, creating two 6-on-4 advantages. The ploy worked - Martin scored on the first and Carolina couldn't hit the open net on the second.
Clemmensen, who was making his 12th straight start, made 25 saves.
New Jersey is 9-3-1 in regular-season games at Carolina since the start of the 2001-02 season.
Notes: New Jersey defenseman Colin White (upper-body injury) missed his fifth straight game. ... Patrick Eaves returned for Carolina after missing one game with an upper-body injury. ... Carolina didn't have a player miss the game due to injury for the first time since Feb. 6, 2007, a span of 140 games.
