Hurricanes fall to Red Wings

Justin Abdelkader showed no signs of cooling off, as he potted his 4th goal in two games to give Detroit a 4-2 lead in the closing minutes of the game.

It was a matter of finishing at that point. The Detroit Red Wings weren’t about to argue with the results.

34 – Shots the Hurricanes had in the first two periods compared to eight for the Red Wings. He made 44 saves and kept the Red Wings in the game early, when the Hurricanes were outshooting Detroit badly.

Henrik Zetterberg snuck in from the corner to score at 11:33, forcing the puck around Ward from just outside the crease.

“We kind of gave them their chances I think”.

“It helps when the pucks hit you and they don’t go in”, Mrazek said of the quick flurry so early in the game.

The Red Wings (2-0) played their home opener Friday, topping the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 in an emotional game at Joe Louis Arena.

Overall, Peters liked the way his team played – starting fast, out-shooting Detroit 18-2 in the first period, then 16-6 in the second – to answer the call that came after the 2-1 season-opening loss in Nashville. “And obviously on the game-winner, that is just a blatant d-zone coverage breakdown by us”. “It was nice to get a couple of goals”, Pulkkinen said to Fox Sports Detroit’s John Keating. Even on a rainy day, the tailgating began early.

Rask finally broke through, batting in a rebound behind the Detroit goalie’s back with 4:48 left in the second for the first goal of the season allowed by the Red Wings.

“They started to skate better as the game went along – in the second half of the second (period)”, Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said.

In addition to Faulk, who took seven shots on goal, forwards Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner took nine and five respectively throughout the game, including Staal deflecting one off the post at the midpoint of the first period. “We played hard. We played well”. Shots were 18-2 to Carolina.

Carolina, which finished with a 46-19 shots advantage, generated plenty of scoring chances – but just couldn’t solve Mrazek until late in the second. “Petr held us in it”.

Stupid stat of the day: Dylan Larkin became the first teenager in over three decades to score in his National Hockey League debut for Detroit last night. On an attempt to clear the puck, Mike Green flipped it away falling into the hands of Noah Hanifin who got the puck to Victor Rask for a shot.