Detroit Red Wings zing Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2 with 3.2 seconds left: Game thread recap
Detroit Red Wings (32-32-9, 73 points) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (47-17-9, 103 points)
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Where: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
TV: ESPN+, Hulu (online-only, no Bally Sports Detroit broadcast).
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; Red Wings radio affiliates).
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Game notes: The Hurricanes have clinched a playoff berth already, but the Metropolitan Division leaders still have a ways to go in locking up home ice for the first two rounds of the playoffs. They’re three points up on the New Jersey Devils, though the ’Canes have a game in hand on the ‘Vils. They also get two games against the Wings in their final nine, while Detroit and New Jersey have already wrapped up their season series.
Don’t expect a lot of goals in this one; the Hurricanes rank 15th in the NHL at 3.25 goals per game and the Wings rank 24th (2.92). It’s fitting, therefore, that their game earlier this season ended 1-0 — a Carolina win on the back of rookie goalie Pyotr Kochetkov, who had 27 saves on Dec. 13 at Little Caesars Arena. That was one of four shutouts for the Russian netminder, good for fourth in the league this season, despite just 23 starts.
Carolina’s offense, is led by Sebastian Aho, who has a team-high 33 goals and a fourth-on-the-roster 29 assists. The 25-year-old is heating up, too, with six goals in his past six games after suffering through a seven-game goal drought. Aho has a shot, as it were, at his first 40-goal season; the No. 35 overall pick in 2015 set his previous high of 38 goals back in 2019-20.
The Wings, meanwhile, are led by captain Dylan Larkin’s 71 points, though veteran David Perron has leapt into second place (47 points) thanks to a recent hot streak — points in four of his past five games — capped by a hat trick in the third period of Tuesday’s victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After this one, the Wings zip out on the road to face Winnipeg on Friday night, the start of three straight road games vs. Canadian foes. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, head well, well north to visit the woeful Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings beat Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2: Game thread recap
