This is how the Detroit Red Wings inject meaning into the last weeks of their season: By making it difficult for opponents with playoff positioning on the line.
They challenged the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at Little Caesars Arena, limiting quality scoring chances as the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes tried to cement home-ice advantage through the first two rounds. Jake Walman played spoiler with 3.2 seconds to play, though, giving the Wings a 3-2 victory and a little two-game feel-good streak.
Dominik Kubalik scored in the opening minute but it was goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic who was busiest in the first period, making 10 saves. The Hurricanes scored twice on 14 shots in the second period, but Dylan Larkin got it to 2-2.
Earlier this week, the Wings bested the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are trying to secure a wild-card spot.
MINDING THE NET: How Ville Husso’s late-season push affects Red Wings’ goaltending situation
20-goal scorers
Kubalik became the second player on the team this season to reach 20 goals (Larkin has 28) when he scored in the opening minute. Kubalik got the puck from David Perron, skated up the left flank and fired a shot that Frederik Andersen saw coming and should have had. Perron, with 19 goals, is likely to hit 20, too. The Wings came into the season thinking they’d have 30-goal scorers in Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana, but that went south two games in, when Bertuzzi broke a hand and Vrana was placed in the NHL and NHLPA players assistance program. Both were traded at the March 3 deadline.
THE Y’S AND HOWS OF REBUILDING: Can’t pull a good team out of a hat, Yzerman says
Pushing back
The Hurricanes showed why they’re in first place in their division, scoring in the opening minute of the second period when veteran defenseman Brent Burns fired a shot through traffic that eluded Nedeljkovic and tied the game. Defense partner Jacob Slavin followed suit at 4:18, seven seconds after the Wings had killed off a second penalty. Their other special team made good a little later. The power play needed just seven seconds to convert, with Larkin finishing a setup down low from Alex Chiasson, who picked up his sixth power play point since joining the Wings 12 games ago. The goal at 7:26 was the Wings’ first shot on net of the period.
Edvinsson’s role grows
After being a healthy scratch the previous two games, Simon Edvinsson was back in the lineup for his fourth appearance. He was paired with Ben Chiarot (who hadn’t played since March 14 because of an upper-body injury), which put Edvinsson in a top-four role. Edvinsson has stood out for how physical he has played, though for a second straight game, he took two penalties. Overall, though, he has looked comfortable with the puck, figuring out how much more quickly he has to make decisions at the NHL level. The expectation is he’ll appear in five more games, which puts him at nine — one short of triggering the first year of his entry-level contract.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings steal 3-2 win from ‘Canes with goal in final seconds
