Carolina Hurricanes Enjoy Trips to Detroit, Top Red Wings 3-1
By Zeke Lukow
The Carolina Hurricanes really seem to enjoy their trips to Detroit, top Red Wings by a score of 3-1.
For the second time in two weeks the Hurricanes went into Detroit and won, which means 2/3 of the seasons wins have come in the Joe. The Carolina Hurricanes moved to 3-6-0 on the year.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
none
2nd Period
CAR Goal (12:26) – Victor Rask (3); unassisted
With 7:37 left on the clock the Hurricanes flick the puck out of their defensive zone and the puck dribbles into the Red Wings zone. Rask skates aggressively between two defenders towards a charging Petr Mrazek. Mrazek tries to flick the puck out of the zone but Rask blocks it gathers the puck and scores the empty net goal.
DET Goal (17:44) – Jakub Kindl (1); Tomas Jurco (1)
Late in the second period Cam Ward played the puck behind the net to the defense, who failed to clear the zone. Immediately off of the turnover Kindle takes a slap shot towards the net, which deflects off of Jay McClement and beats Cam 5 hole for a goal. This goal isn’t Ward’s fault, he looked to be tracking the shot properly, and the traffic in front of the net ended up leading to the goal.
3rd Period
CAR Goal (4:35) – Ron Hainsey (1); unassissted
This goal was very similar to Detroit’s goal, The Carolina Hurricanes were turning up the pressure in the Red Wings end. Kronwall looked to make a pass in the defensive zone and missed, Hainsey pounced on the puck and zipped one in high blocker side against Mrazek.
CAR Empty Net Goal (19:30) – Eric Staal (3); Riley Nash (1); Justin Faulk (3)
Eric Staal put in an empty net goal with 30 seconds left on the clock to seal the game for the Hurricanes. This was the only goal for the Hurricanes that included helpers.
Recap
This wasn’t the most entertaining game to watch, in comparison it was like watching a football game that ends 6-3. I do have to say it’s nice to see the Hurricanes win an ugly game though. For so long it always felt like the Canes would come out on the losing end to these types of games.
One of the most exciting plays of the night occurred just under four minutes into the game. While the Red Wings were entering the Hurricanes zone, Gerbe hit Tartar hard causing him to go offside. After a quick stare down they dropped the gloves, with neither really getting the best of the other. This was only Gerbe’s second career fight and it was Tartar’s first.
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Gerbe continued to bring the energy all game and was flying around the ice disrupting and frustrating the Red Wings. He never gave up on plays and there were multiple times I was surprised that he was able to get back into the play and knock someone off the puck to nudge them enough to get his stick on the puck. He was definitely playing good hockey tonight which helped the team win the game.
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Carolina was lucky that they were able to capitalize off of a couple of turnovers because the offense missed chance after chance. The Carolina Hurricanes offense was 0-3 on power plays, including Eric taking a penalty to close one out early. Staal also missed on a breakaway and a 2 on 1 late in the game on the power play. Jeff Skinner also missed a 2 on 1 in the second period, when he tried to pass the puck but buried it into the defenseman’s stomach. These are the kinds of opportunities that the Canes are going to need to start taking advantage of if they want to string together a couple of wins.
Where the Carolina Hurricanes excelled tonight, was on the penalty kill. The Red Wings only had two power play opportunities and the Hurricanes handled them with ease. The Hurricanes PK unit held Detroit without a shot and more impressively didn’t let them get set once. This was probably the best game for the PK unit that I can remember.
Overall this game was sloppy and featured plenty of turnovers, which supplied 75% of the scoring. The Red Wings were credited with 12 giveaways and 5 takeaways; The Carolina Hurricanes only gave away the puck one time and had 4 takeaways. The important takeaway from the game is that the Hurricanes were able to come away from this type of game with a win, and are one game away from ending the State Fair road trip.