Veteran Detroit Team Prevails: Red Wings 3, Hurricanes 2 - OT

The Carolina Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead into the third period but could not hold it as they lost their home opener to the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 in overtime at the PNC Arena on Friday night.

The Wings scored just 42 seconds into the third, then tied the game with 16 seconds left to send it into overtime.

Stephen Weiss would win it at 3:13 into the extra period.

Radek Dvorak and Nathan Gerbe each scored their first goals wearing Carolina sweaters to stake the home team to a lead, even though the visitors outshot them 8-4 in the first period and 10-9 in the second.

This was an exciting hockey game as the Hurricanes battled closely with one of the best teams in the league.  But they could not get the puck out of their own end at key times in the game, and it ended up costing them.

Justin Abdelkader scored the first goal, Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist, and Johan Franzen chipped in with two assists for Detroit.

Carolina started the game off with some extra jump, but Detroit held them off well and counter-attacked.

With 13:30 gone in the period, Jeff Skinner placed a perfect pass toward the crease from the blue line and Dvorak beat the defense to the puck.  Knowing he could not reach the puck for a normal two-handed shot, he stretched to reach it and chipped it in perfectly over Jimmy Howard.

The Canes made it 2-0 late in the second period when Gerbe knocked in a rebound during a powerplay.  Justin Faulk rifled the shot on net and earned the first assist.

While the Wings controlled much of the third period and outshot the Canes 16-11, Carolina did have a couple of good scoring chances that just missed.

The visitors took their goalie off the ice for the extra attacker with a bit over a minute left and applied intense pressure on Ward.  The goalie seemed to be jostled a bit and lost his stick somewhere along the way.  Just outside the melee of bodies, Zetterberg tried a backhander that didn't make it through but the puck came to him again and he zipped his second chance in.

Detroit pretty much controlled overtime and outshot the Canes 4-1 until Weiss ended things.  The Hurricanes will take the one point earned and will try to build on the positives before their next game against the Flyers on Sunday night.

Game Notes:

• The penalty kill looked very good in the game and Carolina killed all three chances against them.  The powerplay went 1-3, but at times had a tough time getting set in the Detroit zone.
• The usually dominant first line of E. Staal, Semin, and Tlusty looked a little rusty in this one.  Semin made a couple of good passes that led to chances and hustled back on a breakaway to help stop a chance for the Wings. Howard made a great stop on Tlusty.  The captain was hustling as well, but finished with a team worst -3.
• The team defense looked much better and allowed fewer quality chances against, even if they did allow 38 shots on goal.  There were fewer open chances or oddman rushes against, as fans have seen so often in the past.
• The Canes are now 2-4-4 in their last 10 home openers.
• Gerbe had a team high five shots on goal.  The team had 25 for the game. Gerbe and Dwyer really have tremendous chemistry and played well off of each other.
• The team had 23 blocked shots led by Andrej Sekera with six and Faulk with four.