RECAP: Red Wings hold off visiting Hurricanes for a 5-3 ‘team win’

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings entered Friday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes needing all the points they can get in their remaining regular-season schedule to keep pace in the race for the Eastern Conference’s second Wild-Card spot.

And by earning a tremendously important 5-3 victory over the Hurricanes at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings moved just four points back of the Montreal Canadiens for that final postseason spot.

“They're a tough team to play against,” said Patrick Kane, who scored his 20 th goal of the season. “They pressure you; they frustrate you. A lot of our goals tonight were Grade-A chances, and we knew when we got those chances, we had to bear down and take advantage of them.”

Goaltender Cam Talbot made 30 saves for the Red Wings (35-33-7; 77 points), who pushed their point streak to three straight games. In net for the Hurricanes (46-25-4; 96 points), who saw their three-game winning streak snapped, goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 16 shots.

“I don't think a goaltender can just beat that team on his own,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “It has to be a team game. And we made some mistakes. They made us pay, but we sold out, blocked some shots, got some good penalty killing, and some timely saves when we needed it. For me, [Talbot] was real good, but this was as much a team win as it was a goaltender win.”

The Red Wings opened the scoring at 9:03 in the first period when Ben Chiarot buried a drifting rebound from the left-side faceoff circle after Alex DeBrincat’s high-slot wrister hit the post, giving Detroit a 1-0 lead. It was Chiarot’s fourth goal of the season, with captain Dylan Larkin earning a secondary assist.

Just 26 seconds after Chiarot lit the lamp, Marco Kasper knocked in a wraparound pass from Lucas Raymond to make it 2-0. The puck also touched Elmer Soderblom’s stick in the goalmouth, giving the 6-foot-8, 246-pound forward an assist in his first game back in Detroit’s lineup after missing the last five since March 24 with an undisclosed injury.

“I think [Elmer]’s been playing really good lately,” Kasper said. “It's big for us that he can come back in and play his game. He creates a lot of space, being that big. [He] skates well and has great hands for being that tall. It was really good today to have him back.”

Kasper, who leads NHL rookies with 14 goals since Jan. 10, has recorded 31 points (16 goals, 15 assists) this season, took sole possession of the fourth-most points by an Austrian player in his inaugural campaign. Leading that list is Michael Grabner (34-18--52 in 2010-11), Thomas Vanek (25-23--48 in 2005-06) and Marco Rossi (21-19--40 in 2023-24).

Jackson Blake cut the Hurricanes’ deficit to 2-1 at 1:57 in the second period after scoring on a Seth Jarvis pass generated by a takeaway deep in the Red Wings’ defensive zone.

Later in the period, Kane extended Detroit’s lead to 3-1, slipping a breakaway knuckler past the outstretched left leg of Hurricanes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov at 9:05. Chiarot knocked down Mark Jankowski near Detroit’s blue-line to create the chance, and Larkin poked the puck away to Kane, though the goal was scored as unassisted.

With the goal, Kane recorded his 17th career 20-goal season, passing Mike Modano for the most by a U.S.-born skater in NHL history.

“He was one of my favorite players, to be honest with you,” Kane said. “I remember the way he skated up and down the ice, his jersey flapping behind him; one of the best American players of all time. I definitely remember watching him growing up and how fun he was as a player; so explosive and scored so many highlight-reel goals.”

Detroit scored its second goal in 21 seconds at 9:26 after Michael Rasmussen sent home a sweeping backhand off a perfectly placed pass from Tyler Motte through traffic.

“You can put Rasmussen on the ice in a lot of different situations, penalty kill, power play, he's been able to check, he's been able to play center or wing, so he kind of does a little bit of everything,” McLellan said. “He's probably never going to score 40, but he's going to get you 10 or 12 consistently. That's what he is, a consistent, steady, good teammate. We appreciate him for that.”

Eric Robinson scored a few minutes later to pull Carolina closer, with the score reading 4-2 at 12:36 in the second. Justin Robidas, making his NHL debut, fired in the pass from the left side that ricocheted off Robinson’s stick up and over Cam Talbot into the net.

Carolina’s third-period attack was relentless, and at 12:44, Brent Burns scored on a sifting shot from the blue-line, with assists awarded to Jack Roslovic and Jaccob Slavin.

Kochetkov was pulled by the Hurricanes at 17:52, and after several chances at the empty net, Alex DeBrincat scored with just one second remaining to seal the 5-3 final.

Larkin also registered a second assist on DeBrincat’s club-leading 34th goal of the season, tying the club’s current captain with Reed Larson for 11th place on Detroit’s all-time scoring list.

“We did the job tonight,” Kane said. “You look at our schedule the rest of the way, it doesn't really get any easier. We can play against these top teams in the league, and I think we proved that tonight.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will host the Florida Panthers early on Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena.

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on what this team can still achieve

“I challenged our group after the Four Nations break. Who are we? Are we the early team? Are we the team that kind of got it going? We talked about how the story is not done yet. We can still write another chapter or two, so let's get playing the way we can. I look up at the scoreboard at the end of [the game], I don't worry about standings or scores or anything like that. The belief system should be, ‘We've been through this before, let's keep pushing.’”

Kane on Kasper’s game

“It's a skill to be able to play with top players and go to the net and score. I think he’s scored a lot of his goals in the blue paint this year. It's a huge way to create offense in this league. Obviously, [he] pushes the pace up the middle. Great skater, good both ways. When you get to the net like that, you're going to get rewarded.”

Kasper on hearing a victory song in the locker room

“It's great for us. We've been battling the last couple of weeks, but I think we've stuck to it. We've been working hard in practice, and it paid off in a game today, and we’ve got to keep it rolling now.”