Dougie Hamilton scored an unassisted short-handed goal, Alex Nedeljkovic came within 10 seconds of a shutout and the Carolina Hurricanes extended their winning streak to eight games by edging the host Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Sunday.
Nino Niederreiter scored the other goal for Carolina, which has won three of four meetings against Detroit this season.
Nedeljkovic made 25 saves as the Hurricanes won without a power play tally for the first time during the streak. Carolina only had one man-advantage opportunity while the Red Wings came up empty on two power plays.
Anthony Mantha had the lone goal for Detroit, while Jonathan Bernier made 30 saves.
Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov had the best scoring opportunity in the first period on a breakaway but Bernier stopped his shot with the shaft of his stick.
The Wings appeared to be in good position to break the deadlock when the Hurricanes' Jesper Fast was whistled for hooking Dylan Larkin in the second period.
Instead, the Hurricanes took the lead with the short-handed goal. Hamilton stole the puck from Filip Zadina near his own net. He then skated into Detroit territory and fired a shot from the right circle that eluded the diving Larkin and zipped past Bernier. Hamilton's third goal of the season came at 15:13 of the period.
Niederreiter scored his 12th goal during the second minute of the third period for a 2-0 Hurricanes lead. Sebastian Aho carried the puck into Detroit's zone and dropped it off for Niederreiter, who wristed a shot from the edge of the left circle that beat Bernier on the glove side.
Aho's assist was his 15th of the season. Jaccob Slavin also recorded an assist.
Detroit's Bobby Ryan banged a shot off the crossbar a few minutes later.
Mantha's eighth goal came on a tip-in of a Filip Hronek shot. Luke Glendening also picked up an assist.
Hronek leads the Red Wings with 15 points, all on assists.
The teams will meet again in Detroit on Tuesday.
--Field Level Media
Carolina | Detroit | |
Dougie Hamilton 1 | Points | Anthony Mantha 1 |
Dougie Hamilton 1 | Goals | Anthony Mantha 1 |
Sebastian Aho 1 | Assists | Luke Glendening 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
Dougie Hamilton 1 | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Alex Nedeljkovic .962 | Save Percentage | Jonathan Bernier .938 |
Alex Nedeljkovic 25 | Saves | Jonathan Bernier 30 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Carolina | 32 | 2 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 4 | 31 |
Detroit | 26 | 1 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 2 | 24 |