Canes Close Out Trip With Quality Victory Over Detroit

DETROIT, MI. - The Carolina Hurricanes ended their six-game road trip with a second consecutive win on Thursday, beating the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 2-1.

Hot Off The Line...

After departing Raleigh 12 days ago, the team finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel in the Motor City.

When the puck went down, the action kicked off right away, with Carolina going to the power play just 2:26 in. Utilizing an 11-7 setup again, Tony DeAngelo quarterbacked the team's first man advantage unit, but the groups were only able to get one shot onto Ville Husso.

Although the effort was unsuccessful, the second unit continued their pressure when play got back to five-on-five.  22 seconds after the penalty expired, to be exact, the Canes got the game's first lead.

A flawless feed from Stefan Noesen made its way by two Detroit defenders and hit Jack Drury's stick in the perfect spot, extending #18's point streak to four games.

Take Them Any Way You Can Get Them...

Coming just 4:48 in, Drury's fourth goal since November 22 was the lone tally of the first period.

Pyotr Kochetkov, who got the start for a second consecutive contest, turned away all eight tests in the opening frame, but he had his work cut out for him in the second.

Detroit ramped up its workload, and on their fifth shot of the frame just 5:20 in, they were able to get their equalizer. Michael Rasmussen beat Kochetkov above the glove-side shoulder and started to tilt the ice in favor of Detroit.

The league's highest-scoring second period team with 41 goals in 28 games, it looked like the Red Wings were then about to take the lead moments later after a gaffe from Carolina's netminder.

Instead, Kochetkov recovered to deny Patrick Kane, but perhaps something was in the water at Little Caesars Arena.

Minutes later, at the other end of the ice, Husso made an error of his own when trying to play the puck and Jordan Staal took advantage to put his team back in front.

Kochetkov Slams The Door Shut...

Taking a 2-1 advantage to the finish, the Canes were able to showcase some of their bread and butter as a club en route to closing things out - limiting the opposition's chances.

Holding Detroit to a game-low seven shots in the third period, the 20-minute segment was also inspiring from a goaltending standpoint as well.  Albeit the work was intermittent for Kochetkov, he needed to be timely with his stops, including a few while shorthanded and a monumental one with just seconds on the clock.

Make no mistake, it was not that Carolina was completely on their heels to end the contest, in fact, they doubled Detroit's shot total.  Husso upheld his end of the bargain for his club though, and because of the work by the two netminders, the final horn came with no further scoring.

Kochetkov's night ended allowing just one goal once again and after starting the road trip with four consecutive losses, the Canes were victors for the second outing in a row.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour on the win...

"Tonight was a real good game.  I loved our second and third [periods].  We didn't give up a ton and we created a bunch of offense.  We did it right and we got rewarded for it with the win."

Brind'Amour continuing on Kochetkov...

"The last two games he was solid.  [Husso] was making a ton of saves too and they've got to match it.  That's the game that goes on within the game.  You've got to give [Husso] a lot of credit, he made a lot of saves a lot of saves, and kept his team in it.  [Kochetkov] had to match it, and he did."

Jordan Staal reflecting on the trip as a whole and what led to these last two wins...

"It started as a road trip from hell.  The boys grinded the last few and found a way to get into a little bit of a groove and Kochetkov played well the last few games as well.  He was a difference-maker for us and we grinded out a win [tonight]."

What's Next?

The Canes team will fly home immediately post-game. They are scheduled to get right back in action on home ice against the Nashville Predators on Friday.

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