Since then, the game had been in the hands of the Hurricanes who continued to hold puck possession as well as recording numerous shots in the period. “We were down 2-1 and all of a sudden in a minute or two we were up by a goal”.
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Rookie Dylan Larkin was moved from top line winger to center on a unit with Teemu Pulkkinen and Tomas Tatar. They struck twice to end the second period, once from Victor Rask after a fluky bounce off the boards and over the Red Wings’ net, and again by Nathan Gerbe in the final minute of the period to make it 2-1 Hurricanes.
■Quotable: Pulkkinen said, “We didn’t get our legs going first 40 minutes, so we were down, 2-1”.
The Red Wings did not miss a beat without Pavel Datsyuk, who has begun the campaign on injured reserve following ankle surgery in June.
Detroit tied the game when Pulkinnen scored at the 4:39 mark of the third period and then took the lead when Pulkinnen added his second of the game at the 6:36 mark.
“We played hard”, Carolina captain Eric Staal said.
He kept his mates in the game through the first two periods when they were absolutely dominated by the Canes. Canes defenseman Noah Hanifin, coming off the bench, knocked down the puck, then got off a quick shot that sailed over the net and off the back glass. “It gave us a little extra boost and we got results right away”.
“I think (the first goal) was a lucky bounce – it just came to me, I barely hit it and it went into the net”, said Pulkkinen, who had an AHL-best 34 goals in just 46 games last season with Grand Rapids.
Abdelkader then made it 4-2 with his fourth goal in just over 24 hours.
The Red Wings (2-0) played their home opener Friday, topping the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 in an emotional game at Joe Louis Arena. “It was nice to get a couple of goals”, Pulkkinen said to Fox Sports Detroit’s John Keating.
Goalie Petr Mrazek made 44 saves for the Red Wings in his first outing of the season.
Rask finally broke through, batting in a rebound behind the Detroit goalies back with 4:48 left in the second for the first goal of the season allowed by the Red Wings.
With 56.5 seconds left in the period, Gerbe tipped in a Ryan Murphy centering pass in the slot that put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1.
Not capitalizing on early power plays and not being able to get a goal past Mrazek in the opening half of the game was a factor, too. The Red Wings did whatever possible to prevent anything from happening in the final seconds to close out the second that had them down a goal.
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You want to score on the power play early, Staal said, but we controlled the whole first period and most of the second as well…. “We usually have five tight and we didn’t (then) and it cost us”. Defenseman James Wisniewski suffered a serious injury tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
