The Carolina Hurricanes came to Detroit looking for some revenge and they were able to put together a complete effort while picking up their first win of the season as they defeated the Red Wings, 5-3 on Friday night in front of 20,000 plus at Joe Louis Arena.
Rookie Brock McGinn had a goal and assist in his NHL debut and Eric Staal and Kris Versteeg both had three point games for Carolina.
McGinn knocked in his own rebound to start the scoring just 55 seconds in as he scored on his very first NHL shift.
Coach Bill Peters put the rookie on the first line and he obviously helped provide some jump for Staal and Versteeg who both had their best games of the young season.
The Canes were outshooting the Wings by a wide margin, much like they did at the PNC for their home opener. But in this game, they were able to light the lamp more often and jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period with goals by Justin Faulk and Eric Staal.
Faulk's goal was a powerplay tally off of a beautiful pass by the captain.
While the Red Wings were down by three goals, they were not out yet. Later in the second period, they lit the lamp twice within a minute and change to make things interesting. Cam Ward was not seeing much action at his end of the rink but when he did they were quality chances.
Both teams skated to the second intermission with the 3-2 score, but the Canes would open things up to start the third when Jeff Skinner found Versteeg alone in front of the net with a perfect, touch pass.
Chris Terry then made it 5-2 on a fluky goal from behind the net before Teemu Pulkkinen scored for Detroit to make it 5-3.
The Wings pulled Jimmy Howard with two minutes left but could not score another. It was their first loss of the season.
The Canes will next take on the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center on Saturday night.
Game Notes:
- Cam Ward certainly was not over-worked in this game as he stopped 17 of 20 shots. Still, he made the saves he needed to make to pick up his first win. It will be interesting to see who Peters goes with against the Caps.
- The Canes outshot the Wings, 36-20. Faulk and Gerbe led the way with four each.
- Faulk racked up a game high 27:24 of ice time.
- Ron Hainsey and Michal Jordan each had three blocked shots, leading the team in that category.
- Hits were tied up at 17 each.
- The team won 57% of the game's faceoffs led by Jay McClement who won 70%.
- Game Summary
- Event Summary