Carolina Hurricanes open new season with 3-0 win over Detroit Red Wings
The Carolina Hurricanes opened a new season Thursday with the kind of effort that pleased their coach, Rod Brind’Amour. Not always the execution, but the effort.
The Canes took the early lead against the Detroit Red Wings in winning 3-0 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. They were physical. They got their shots and limited the Wings’ opportunities in helping goalie Petr Mrazek face just 14 shots in his 22nd career shutout.
The Canes won their first Central Division game, getting an even strength goal from Nino Niederreiter early in the game, a power-play goal by Ryan Dzingel late in the third and then a final empty-netter by Andrei Svechnikov. It was a tight game, tighter than Brind’Amour liked, but a victory.
“Game 1, after a long layoff, I’m not too upset about it,” Brind’Amour said on the postgame media call. “The effort was really good, and that’s the key.”
Niederreiter, who earned a spot on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen with a solid training camp, gave the Canes their first goal of the season. The Canes had other good scoring chances and a big shooting edge, but it remained 1-0 deep into the third period.
“The game was actually closer than it maybe appeared because (the Wings) had some really good looks,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s the stuff I want to eliminate, or try to. We probably relied on Petr a little too much. We had a lot of breakdowns I didn’t like.”
Dzingel scored on the power play by going to the front of the net and getting a piece of a Jake Gardiner shot.
Canes defenseman Brady Skjei got in a jarring hit in the first period. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton then dropped the gloves and fired some fists at the Wings’ Sam Gagner in the second.
Aho was active and his line produced some good scoring chances. Niederreiter, coming off an indifferent 2019-20 season, had some promising looks at a second goal, and Teravainen had a game-high seven shots but was more noticeable this night with some heady defensive plays in the game.
Canes defenseman Brett Pesce got his first game action since a season-ending shoulder injury Feb. 22, 2020, against Toronto. Pesce had 19:28 of ice time.
Forward Jesper Fast played his first game for the Canes. Acquired as a free agent, Fast had a team-high five hits and blocked a shot in making a winning debut with his new team.
The Canes and Red Wings face off again Saturday to finish off the two-game set.
Hamilton drops gloves
In a generally sloppy second period that had the Canes maintain their 1-0 lead, the most memorable moment had Hamilton dropping the gloves after Gagner boarded Jordan Staal.
The Hurricanes earned their first power play of the season in the second after Brock McGinn took a stick in the face from Jon Merrill. The Canes nearly scored in the final seconds of the power play as Martin Necas and Staal had good looks.
Skjei picked up the Canes’ first penalty of the season in the second when he was whistled for tripping, but the Canes killed it off.
Good start for the Hurricanes
The Hurricanes’ first period of their first game of the 2020-21 season was solid all around, with the Canes the more physical team in taking a 1-0 lead over the Red Wings.
Mark it down: Niederreiter had the Canes’ first goal of the season. Aho carried the puck into the zone and into the right circle, then made a backhand pass through traffic. Niederreiter, alone in the slot, beat Thomas Greiss with a patient forehand to the short side at 3:38 of the first.
The Canes were credited with 13 hits in the opening period — the biggest by Skjei, who smacked Wings defenseman Filip Hronek along the boards. The Canes limited the Wings to five shots and won 12 of 17 faceoffs in a complete period that did have the Wings push back in the final minutes.
Had Svechnikov been able to handle a Necas pass off the rush late in the period, the Canes would have led 2-0. But Carolina had a 13-5 shooting edge in controlling much of the period.
Neither team had a penalty in the opening period.
Familiar faces in net
The Canes won’t face the New York Islanders this season — they’re in different divisions — but Carolina couldn’t dodge a familiar face: goalie Thomas Greiss.
Greiss, who is starting the opener for the Wings, was considered something of a “Canes killer” with the Isles, going 7-4-4 and playing especially well at PNC Arena. The veteran signed a two-year contract with the Red Wings in October.
The flip side is that the Canes’ starting goalie, Mrazek, played 166 games for Detroit from 2013-18 before the Wings gave up on him and traded him. The games in Detroit remain special to the Czech native.
Personnel moves
The Canes announced Thursday that Paul Schonfelder had been named the goaltending coach, and Jason Muzzatti would be reassigned as goaltender development coach.
Schonfelder was the team’s minor league goaltending consultant the past two seasons. Muzzatti was the Canes’ goaltending coach in 2019-20.
In other personnel moves, Matthew Aiello was named assistant athletic trainer and Dave Paul an equipment manager. Aiello was the head trainer for the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, and Paul had worked with the Canes as an assistant equipment manager for eight years.
Mike Brown has been named manager of communications with the departure of Pace Sagester.
Some Canes history
The Canes’ last regular-season game in 2019-20 was a 5-2 beating of the Red Wings in Detroit on March 10. The pandemic then put a stop to everything, a “pause” that lasted until August and the NHL’s postseason rounds. The Canes were 3-0 against the Wings last season ...
It’s the first time the Canes and Wings have opened a regular season against each other since Oct. 4, 2013, when Detroit won 3-2 in overtime at PNC Arena. Bill Peters was behind the bench — the Wings bench, as an assistant coach.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 7:00 PM.
