DETROIT — So Saturday you had a deluge of goals, little defense, and shoddy goaltending, all from both teams.
Tuesday, the Red Wings played more of a real hockey game, and the result was likely fine with Wings' fans — a 4-3 overtime victory over the Eastern Conference leading Carolina Hurricanes.
Lucas Raymond batted in a loose puck into the net on the power play, Raymond's 16th goal, with eight seconds left in overtime, rallying the Red Wings to the victory.
Jordan Staal gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead at 16:12 of the third period, his sixth goal. Staal put back a backhand rebound in the slot past goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, after winning a face-off and gaining possession for the Hurricanes.
But the Wings rallied 38 seconds later, with Dylan Larkin tying the game with his 27th goal.
Vladislav Namestnikov knocked the puck loose from a Hurricanes defender. Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei failed to clear the puck, and Larkin got possession, skated through the slot, and backhanded a shot past goalie Antti Raanta at 16:50.
The Red Wings moved back to .500 (24-24-6) with the victory, and ended a two-game losing streak.
Michael Rasmussen scored his eighth goal at 2:45 of the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie. Rasmussen took an outlet pass from Jordan Oesterle, got by a Carolina defender , and snapped a shot that surprised Raanta. It was also Rasmussen's second goal in two games, giving the Wings a spark from the bottom-six forwards.
But the Hurricanes came right back to tie the game.
Jesper Fast's shot in the slot appeared to bound off a stick, or two, and got past Nedeljkovic at 7:06, Fast's 11th goal.
Nedeljkovic, facing his old Carolina team for the second time this season, stopped 27 shots and beat the Hurricanes for the first time, while only winning his third game in last nine decisions (3-5-1).
After Saturday's crazy affair against Toronto, this felt much more like a hockey game instead of a glorified pick-up game. Maybe not as exciting, but good defense and goaltending can be fun, too. Strange, unexpected goals can turn on crowds, which Carter Rowney's goal did in the second period.
Rowney was battling at the net with Carolina's Jordan Staal and somehow got his stick on Sam Gagner's shot, the puck squirming past Raanta, tying the game 1-1.
It was Rowney's fourth goal, and second in two games, continuing to be a productive and extremely useful presence on the fourth line.
Carolina took a 1-0 lead on Sebastian Aho's first-period power-play goal.
Teuvo Teravainen found Aho on a broken, disjointed play alone in front, and Aho battled his 24th goal past Nedeljkovic at 13:02 of the first period.
Carolina (37-11-5) saw its five-game win streak come to an end.
“They’re definitely a high-pressure team,” coach Jeff Blashill said after Tuesday's morning skate. “They’ve established an identity over the years that (Hurricanes coach) Rod (Brind’Amour) has been there. It starts with their forecheck, so you have to get out of your end on your breakouts and then once you get into defensive zone coverage, when you touch the puck, that puck has to get out.
"Where they really get you is when they shoot it, they’re very good at getting it back and just start to break you down off that. When you get opportunities to get pucks, we got to make sure we get them out, whether it’s tape-to-tape or off the window into space or try to beat them up the ice.”
Not surprisingly, given the way Saturday's loss unfolded, Blashill made several tweaks to the Wings' lineup.
Up front, Namestnikov was reinserted on the top line with Larkin and Raymond, while Filip Zadina dropped to a line with Joe Veleno and Rasmussen. On defense, Danny DeKeyser and Gustav Lindstrom were healthy scratches, with Troy Stecher (paired with Marc Staal) and Oesterle (with Filip Hronek) returning to the lineup.
