The North Carolina State Fair ended this past Sunday in Raleigh and for the Hurricanes it meant that their dreaded early season fair road trip was nearing its end. The Hurricanes earned a win in the penultimate game of the road trip, cruising past the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 Tuesday night.
Goals from defenseman Ron Hainsey and forward Victor Rask, along with terrific goaltending from Cam Ward, buoyed the Hurricanes (3-6-0) late into the third period, where forward Eric Staal sent a long shot into the empty net to seal the win.
The win pushes the Hurricanes record to 3-3-0 on the seven-game road trip that will wrap up on Thursday night in Brooklyn when the Hurricanes take on the New York Islanders.
The win over the Red Wings (4-4-1) was the final game of the season between the two teams, with the Hurricanes winning the season series two games to one. The win was the Hurricanes’ second at Joe Louis Arena this season, where the Hurricanes/Whalers franchise previously had only a 1-17-1 record since 1990.
Carolina started the scoring just over 12 minutes into the second period, capitalizing on a terrible mistake by Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazek.
With the puck fluttering into the Red Wings zone, Mrazek left his net to clear the puck out of harm’s way. Instead, he inadvertently cleared the puck right into the oncoming Rask, who deposited the puck into the wide-open net for a 1-0 lead.
Detroit answered four minutes later, when defenseman Jakub Kindl’s shot from the point hit Carolina forward Jay McClement’s skate and redirected past Ward to knot the game up at one.
Hainsey would eventually give the Canes a lead that they would not relinquish. The veteran scored his first goal of the season on a wrister from the right circle that found its way through everyone—including Mrazek—to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead.
From there it was the Cam Ward show, as the goaltender stymied the Red Wings at every turn, eventually earning the win after stopping 26 shots on 27 attempts.
Eric Staal ended it with 30 seconds remaining in the game, crushing any hope that the Red Wings had of rallying for a victory.
Carolina nearly took the lead at the end of the first period when Eric Staal was sprung on a breakaway against Mrazek. He was poke checked from behind however, never getting a shot off as time expired.
After the Hurricanes tilt with the Islanders, the team makes trip back to the friendly confines of PNC Arena to face the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
