Detroit Red Wings surge past Carolina Hurricanes in third for 4-3 win

The Carolina Hurricanes controlled a lot of their home opener Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings.

The Canes had a lot of jump and 47 shots. Victor Rask and Nathan Gerbe scored second-period goals to give the Canes the lead going into the final 20 minutes at PNC Arena.

It was a matter of finishing at that point. And the Red Wings did.

Teemu Pulkkinen scored twice in a two-minute span in the third period and Justin Abdelkader added a goal with 3:35 remaining as the Wings surged past the Canes 4-3.

The Canes’ Justin Faulk pulled Carolina (0-2) within 4-3 with a power-play goal, but just 2.1 seconds remained in the game.

“That goal didn’t matter,” Faulk said. “We kind of gave them their opportunities to score and they capitalized. We made mistakes you can’t let happen when you have the lead going into the third period.”

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. Jimmy Howard was in net for Detroit, but Petr Mrazek was the starter and winner Saturday, again coming into PNC Arena to thwart the Canes.

Pulkkinen, who led the AHL in scoring with 34 goals last season with Grand Rapids, was unchecked in front of the crease, beating Canes goalie Cam Ward for his first goal and tying the game at2. His second goal came on a redirection of a Tomas Tatar shot as Pulkkinen battled defenseman John-Michael Liles in the slot at 6:36 of the third.

Abdelkader, who had a hat trick in the opener, scored off a Henrik Zetterberg pass on what Canes coach Bill Peters called a “blatant D-zone coverage breakdown.” Zetterberg also scored the Wings’ first goal for a 1-0 lead in the second.

The game had all the usual trappings of a home opener. Even on a rainy day, the tailgating began early. There was a band and the atmosphere was festive.

After a pregame ceremony that included bagpipers, and coach and player introductions, the Canes came out with jump and took dead aim on Mrazek. Carolina had an 18-2 shooting edge in the first period and had 46 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play.

“You want to score on the power play, obviously. We controlled the whole first period,” said the Canes’ Eric Staal, who had nine shots in the game. “They didn’t really have anything until the third, when they pushed a little more. We played hard. We played well.”

The shot margin continued to build in the second period — 22-2, 30-5. Mrazek had 35 saves in a 2-0 win over the Canes in PNC Arena to close the 2014-15 regular season for Carolina and was back at it Saturday.

“The first two periods we weren’t skating well enough,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “Petr held us in it.”

Zetterberg scored when he collected the puck in the right circle, maneuvered around Jordan Staal and beat Ward, who played well in a 2-1 loss Thursday to the Nashville Predators in Carolina’s season opener.

But the sellout crowd of 18,949 was soon roaring. Canes defenseman Noah Hanifin, coming off the bench, knocked down the puck, then got off a quick shot that sailed over the net and off the back glass. The puck bounced back on top of the cage, then down as Rask took a whack at it.

Hanifin picked up the assist — the first NHL point for Carolina’s first-round pick in this year’s NHL draft.

The Canes then took the lead when defenseman Ryan Murphy gathered the puck near the offensive blue line on the right wing, skated past the Wings’ Gustav Nyquist and found Gerbe in front of the crease.

Carolina, which had defenseman James Wisniewski suffer a knee injury in the opener, had Rask and center Riley Nash leave Saturday’s game. Nash had an upper-body injury in the first and did not return. Rask was injured late in the game.

Peters said the loss should not deflate his team, which faces the Florida Panthers on Tuesday at PNC Arena.

“We’re fine,” Peters said. “We’ve got to do it again, play the same way. Tighten up a little bit defensively.

“I liked our start. It would have been nice to get on the board a little earlier but we didn’t. We’ve got to stay with it.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 9:40 PM with the headline "Detroit Red Wings surge past Carolina Hurricanes in third for 4-3 win."