Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour called it a game of “tough sledding,” and it was that Friday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Both teams employ a pressure game, looking to force bad decisions and costly mistakes. Both stay patient, sticking to their games. Neither gave up a lot of room or open ice.
It took the full 60 minutes but the Hurricanes emerged with a hard-fought 4-2 victory as Martin Necas returned to the lineup off an injury and was the No. 1 star of the game with a goal and assist.
The Canes (25-14-5) took a 3-2 lead on Andrei Svechnikov’s power-play goal at 10:46 of the third period. Svechnikov’s 11th of the season came after Sebastian Aho’s pass to Michael Bunting created a loose puck that Svechnikov punched past goalie Alex Lyon.
“That’s what we were trying to run,” Svechnikov said. “Fishy (Aho) shot it and we were looking for some kind of rebound. We got free down there and tried to beat those guys.”
Aho scored an empty-net goal off a Necas pass with 1:16 left in regulation — Aho and Svechnikov also finished with a goal and assist. And Jordan Martinook, suddenly on a goal-scoring heater, now has scored in four straight games.
“We played pressure, pressure and they did kind of the same thing,” Svechnikov said of the Wings. “They pretty much copy our game, although they’d probably say we copy their game. There was no space, kind of like playoff hockey.
“It’s nice to win those games. We kind of stuck with it all three periods and we got rewarded.”
The Red Wings (23-17-5) came into PNC Arena off road wins at Toronto and Florida, with a little swagger, going 6-0-1 in their last seven games. The Canes, in turn, were looking to rebound from a 5-2 loss in their last game, against the Los Angeles Kings.
Antti Raanta was the Canes’ starting goalie for the fifth straight game but did not get a lot of work. The Red Wings had 12 shots in the game — three in the first period — and had another 10 attempts blocked. Detroit was outshot by Carolina 14-4 in the third.
“It made my job easier,” Raanta said. “That’s the hard-working part of what we try to do every night, and it showed today. It’s always nice to be a goalie when the guys are diving in putting their bodies (on) the line.”
Necas, who stayed on the move much of the night, scored his 10th of the season in the second period, sniping a shot that got past Lyon.
It was a game of punch/counter-punch in the first two periods, both teams quickly…