Recap: Canes Defeated in Motown

DETROIT - In their final game prior to the trade deadline, the Carolina Hurricanes dropped a 3-1 decision to the Detroit Red Wings.
Noah Hanifin netted the Hurricanes' lone goal, while Henrik Zetterberg's tally in the second period was the difference-maker.
Here are five takeaways from tonight's game at "The Pizza Box."

One
Offense continues to be hard to come by for the Hurricanes, and so do wins.
After scoring 14 goals in a three-game winning streak, the Hurricanes have since scored just six goals in their last five games (0-4-1).
"We're not scoring enough," Justin Faulk said. "You're not going to win many games scoring one goal, as you can see right now. We're not winning, and we're not scoring."
"They're just not going in," Hanifin said. "Guys sometimes get frustrated, but you don't want to get frustrated. You want to stay with it, stay positive and stay consistent."
The limited offense wasn't for a lack of chances tonight. The Hurricanes generated 70 shot attempts, 29 of which were on net and 31 of which were blocked.

"As a team right now we're snake bitten for sure. There were a lot of chances tonight. We just couldn't bear down. It's unfortunate," Hanifin said. "It's tough. To win games you've got to score goals. We've got to do a better job of it."
"We've had a struggle here to score recently, and tonight was no different," head coach Bill Peters said. "Collectively we've got to stay with it and keep generating quality chances."
Two
The Hurricanes had the better start in tonight's game. They possessed the puck and commanded play in the offensive zone.
"We were disappointed about last night. We wanted to come out and redeem ourselves a bit," Hanifin said. "I thought we had a good start to the game, but we've got to do a better job of scoring more goals."
"We were moving and playing fast," Faulk said. "We weren't letting them get established in the neutral zone. We were able to create a lot of turnovers. We thought there were rebounds to be had out there. We were trying to get pucks to the net."
"I thought we came out, started on time and had a good start," Peters said.
The Canes were rewarded with the first power play of the game, and it looked as though the Canes had converted. Faulk banged in a rebound alongside the net, but upon further review, it was ruled that a distinct kicking motion resulted in the puck going in the net; since his stick didn't touch it, the game remained scoreless, though the Canes had the 7-0 shot edge through eight minutes.
"Just missed it. Got it with his foot," Peters said. "That was a big point in the game."
Detroit got some momentum from the penalty kill, and it was Danny DeKeyser striking first, as he was able to walk in and score on a wrist shot from the top of the near circle.
At the end of the first period, the Hurricanes had more than doubled up the Red Wings in shot attempts, 23-11, but trailed 1-0 where it counted, an all too familiar storyline.
Three
Just as the Hurricanes' offense has dried up in the last five games, so has the team's power play. The Canes are 0-for-14 on the man advantage in that stretch, even though tonight it looked like the team was going to find a way to break through.
"We've got to find a way to break out of that," Faulk said. "We've got to find a way to score more goals."
Four
Zetterberg's game-winning mark was scored on the power play, a simple tip play in the slot off a shot from Gustav Nyquist. Not even three minutes later, Trevor Daley padded Detroit's lead off a Canes' defensive zone turnover.
"We've got to score more. We haven't scored much recently. If you're not going to score you've got to make sure you're air-tight defensively," Peters said. "There were a couple mistakes in D-zone coverage where we lost some guys."
Five
Hurricanes equipment manager Skip Cunningham received 10 stitches above his upper lip after being struck with a broken stick blade in the second period. It must have been a bad batch of sticks because minutes after that occurred, Haydn Fleury's twig betrayed him, and the errant stick blade flew into the crowd seven rows up behind the Canes' bench.
Up Next
The Hurricanes will head back home for a scheduled off day on Sunday before again hitting the road for a two-game road trip to Boston and Philadelphia.
"At this time of year, it's tough. All the teams are playing hard, trying to make the playoffs," Hanifin said. "It's going to be a challenge every night."