With a shot at a four-game winning streak and taking over the Eastern Conference’s second wild card spot, the Carolina Hurricanes could not get the job done. The Canes lost 4-1 to the Detroit Red Wings at PNC Arena Saturday night.
Forward Sebastian Aho scored the Canes’ (24-20-8) lone goal, and goalie Scott Darling was beaten four times on 38 Red Wings (21-21-8) shots in his first start since Jan. 21.
Carolina looked every bit a team playing its second game in as many nights, failing to generate much in the offensive zone and playing sloppy in front of its goaltender.
“[The Red Wings] were quick tonight,” head coach Bill Peters said. “I thought they won a lot of foot races and a lot of loose puck battles that they got to first and made us defend.”
The Canes took a 1-0 lead about nine minutes into the period on the tail end of a power play, as a point shot from defenseman Justin Faulk deflected off forward Elias Lindholm and Aho knocked out of the air and past Wings goalie Petr Mrazek.
“I saw the puck was up there near the goal,” Aho said. “There was just a reaction. “I just tried to tip it in.”
Detroit tied it at one with about three and a half minutes left in the opening frame with a point shot through traffic by defenseman Danny Dekeyser.
With the Red Wings on a late-period power play, it was the Canes who got a golden chance to retake their lead with a shorthanded breakaway for forward Joakim Nordstrom, but Mrazek came up with the stop to keep it tied.
The Red Wings took the lead just over five minutes into the second period, as defenseman Trevor Daley launched a bomb of a shot from between the circles to make it 2-1.
“They were hungrier than us, for sure,” forward Jordan Staal said. “I thought we were trying to claw our way back and trying to get some momentum in the third period, and they get a couple bounces. But in the end, we didn’t have enough to get a win.”
Darling came up with a huge stop late in the period, stuffing Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi on the doorstep to keep it a one-goal game.
“I thought [Darling] was good,” Peters said. “I thought he was real good to be honest with you. We gave up too much in transition. Their transition from defense to offense was very quick. We gave up a lot of odd-man rushes. I don’t know the shots ended up at, but we gave a lot of shots, and one those there’s quality also. I didn’t think we managed the puck as good as we needed to.”
The Wings made it 3-1 about eight minutes into the third however, as after an offensive zone turnover by defenseman Haydn Fleury, Wings forward Gustav Nyquist beat Darling over the glove off the rush.
“I think we needed to execute better with the puck,” Peters said. “There’s a lot of those plays, like you look at the Nyquist one, we had it. We had it in the offensive zone. You go back on the first one, we had it in the d zone. We rimmed that puck. We had the puck, and then we didn’t have the puck. I think it was us; the way we played with the puck tonight was substandard.”
The Canes got a chance to get back in the game with a power play with about eight minutes left. The team got some great looks, including a shot off the goal post from Faulk, but could not find the back of the net. Wings forward Darren Helm then raced out of the penalty box on a breakaway and blasted a shot by Darling to make it 4-1, effectively ending the game.
“There were a couple chances on the power play,” Aho said. “Some days those will go in and they didn’t. But that’s hockey, sometimes they don’t go in. That’s tough, when you give up that kind of goal after that kind of power play.
The Canes will play game four this eight-game home stand Sunday against the San Jose Sharks.
Hurricanes goalie Scott Darling throws his hands up in a moment of frustration after Red Wings Center Daren helm scores the fourth goal late in the third period at PNC arena on Friday February 2 for a 4-1 Hurricanes loss.
