The Carolina Hurricanes were impressed with their defensive performance in their most recent game.
The Detroit Red Wings would like to imitate that.
The teams will meet Tuesday night in Detroit, where the Hurricanes might have to duplicate their effort from Sunday to prevent the Red Wings from cranking up the offense.
Carolina tamed the top line of the Edmonton Oilers in Sunday’s 2-1 victory.
“We have a good system in place,” Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce said. “We all buy in. We’re just so in sync, whoever is out there.”
The Red Wings are coming off a 5-2 setback to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday and a bizarre 10-7 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. The defeats began the Wings’ current three-game homestand.
“We’ve been pretty sharp with our starts all year long, especially at home,” Detroit defenseman Marc Staal said. “So I don’t think it’s anything we need to sound the alarm on. We just got to come out ready to play next game and be sharp right at the start.”
There’s no way the Red Wings can afford to allow their late scoring burst to camouflage the damage done because of their defense, coach Jeff Blashill said.
“All I’m thinking about is the fact that it’s not good enough,” Blashill said. “It’s not good enough. I think our guys know that. I hope our guys know that.”
The Red Wings haven’t won enough individual battles to make a difference.
“These games are all litmus tests for us,” Blashill said. “We’d better understand how much more we have to compete and work and sacrifice.”
The Hurricanes are riding a better wave and carry a five-game winning streak into the matchup. Of their last eight victories, three have come by 2-1 scores in regulation.
Left winger Teuvo Teravainen has a career-best eight-game point streak (four goals, seven assists) for the longest of any Carolina player this season.
“I love it when he shoots the puck,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen has turned aside 48 of 49 shots over the last two games.
The Red Wings, in turn, have surrendered five or more goals in four of their seven games in February.
Overshadowed by the final score of Saturday’s game was the fact that Detroit produced a season-high goals total.
“There wasn’t a lot there to like,” Staal said.
Tuesday’s game will involve a matchup of brothers — captain Jordan Staal of the Hurricanes and Marc Staal of the Red Wings.
Detroit’s Moritz Seider holds a six-game point streak (one goal, nine assists), tying the franchise record for a rookie defenseman. There hasn’t been a longer points string in the NHL for a rookie defenseman in four years.
This will mark Carolina’s only visit to Detroit after the teams were in the same division during last season’s pandemic-based alignment. The Hurricanes skated to a 5-3 win over the visiting Red Wings on Dec. 16 in the only meeting between the teams this season.
–Field Level Media
