An outburst of goals kept the Detroit Red Wings in the playoff race, albeit still with a gap to close and little runway left to do so.
But one game at a time is all they can go at it, and so they did Friday, taking advantage of an opponent already clinched and missing key players. The Wings scored in bunches on the Carolina Hurricanes in the third-to-last appearance of the season at Little Caesars Arena, holding on to win, 5-3.
It was only the fifth victory for the Wings (35-33-7) since the start of March, but they moved within four points of Montreal Canadiens in the East's second wild-card berth, with the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets also ahead in the standings.
The Wings led by as much as three goals but it was down to one with 7:16 to play in the third period when Brent Burns' shot slipped past Cam Talbot. Alex DeBrincat scored an empty net goal with 1.5 seconds to go.
The Hurricanes had Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Staal and Dmitry Orlov on the sidelines and looked like it, showing little of their usual puck-funnel style. It was the Wings who stormed around, building a quick lead in the first period on goals from Ben Chiarot and Marco Kasper, and building on it in the second period with goals from Patrick Kane and Michael Rasmussen.
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Thwarted on a power play six minutes into the first period, the Wings made up for it midway through the period. Alex DeBrincat fired a shot that ricocheted off the post and into the left circle, where Chiarot pounced, ripping a slap shot past Pyotr Kochetkov to make it 1-0 at 9:03. By 9:29, it was 2-0. During a battle down low, Kasper slid to the crease and got a backhand on the loose puck, picking up his 16th goal of the season.
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Jackson Blake got one through on Talbot two minutes into the second period, but Talbot avenged that with five saves during a Wings penalty kill four minutes later. Then Kane showed why he's nicknamed "Showtime," stealing the puck and pumping his legs up ice to score unassisted. Rasmussen followed up with his 11th goal of the season at 9:26. Eric Robinson scored for Carolina at ...
