The Carolina Hurricanes shut down the Detroit Red Wings thanks to goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov, who allowed just one goal for a second straight game. The netminder has found a groove in the past two games, helping to turn the Canes around after a disastrous start to their road trip.
Carolina (16-12-1) held on to a 2-1 lead for just under half the game and moved back into a playoff spot with the win. Detroit (15-10-4), who came into the game ranked second in the NHL in goals scored per game, got shut down up and down the ice and only found the twine once.
The Canes picked up right where they left off against the Senators two days prior. With right wing Andrei Svechnikov still out with an upper-body injury, defenseman Tony DeAngelo made his second straight appearance as the Hurricanes ran 11 forwards and 7 defensemen.
Gathering momentum early, Carolina got a power play opportunity and was able to sustain offensive zone pressure. Twenty seconds after the power play finished, right wing Stefan Noesen threaded the puck between two Red Wings players and found center Jack Drury at the back post, who tipped the puck in 4:48 into the first period.
Drury and Noesen have been a dynamic duo as of late, even when the rest of the team isn’t meeting expectations. With his goal tonight, Drury now has points in four consecutive games and Noesen has earned a point in six out of the past eight. Carolina is getting lots of production from depth players — now it’s just about getting all the pieces going at the same time.
After Drury’s early goal, the rest of the first period saw a lot of forechecking and board battles from both sides as neither had an answer for the goaltenders.
Just over five minutes into the second period, Detroit got its lone goal of the night courtesy of center Michael Rasmussen. On a breakout play from its defensive zone, Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce and center Martin Necas skated into each other and turned the puck over. This gave the Red Wings a transition opportunity, allowing Rasmussen to collect the puck inside the right faceoff circle and fire it past Kochetkov’s glove.
Although each goalie kept their team in the game by consistently shutting the door, it didn’t stop either of them from turning the puck over with their stick. Midway through the second, Kochetkov tried making a pass but was intercepted by right wing Patrick Kane, who then fired a shot on an empty net, but Kochetkov got back in the crease in time to make amends. Kochetkov, in his second win in a row, saved 25 of 26 shots on goal while Red Wing goalie Ville Husso stopped 37 of 39.
Minutes later, Husso came out of his net to play a dump-in but misread the speed of the puck and cost his team the game-winning goal. The puck rebounded off the endboards back in front of the goal, where center Jordan Staal was able to get a stick on it and slap it home.
Coming into the game, the Canes were 8-1-0 when leading after the second period. They proved this stat was no fluke as they fought off the Red Wings for the remaining 20 minutes and kept the score at 2-1.
The Hurricanes will return home to Raleigh for their next game, where they’re set to take on the red-hot Nashville Predators (16-13-0) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 15.
