RALIEGH — The Hurricanes scored three second period goals to take control and win their sixth straight game, beating the visiting Red Wings 4-2 Friday at Lenovo Center.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi had primary assists on two of them for his fourth multipoint game of the season, and Carolina got goals from Taylor Hall, Jack Roslovic and Jalen Chatfield in the middle frame to turn a one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead.
Despite dominating the first 20 minutes, Carolina was down 1-0 after the first period. The Hurricanes, however, responded with three goals in the second period, turning ferocious forechecking into offensive opportunities.
“I know we were down 1-nothing after the first, but we still outshot them 10-3,” Hall said. “We had our game, and we’re not kind of tiptoeing into the game, we’re asserting ourselves.”
On the first shift of the middle frame, Kotkaniemi made a steal in the offensive zone to set up a scoring chance. He then got the puck back for a one-timer from the left circle that Hall redirected past Petr Mrazek (28 saves) for his 11th goal — and second with Carolina — to tie the game 1-1 just 22 seconds into the period.
“I think we just want to keep going where you left it in the last period,” Kotkaniemi said. “We had a good start. Just tried to get a good start for second period too, and we made that happen.”
Just over five minutes later, Kotkaniemi created a second goal.
Rookie defenseman Scott Morrow handed the puck off to Kotkaniemi at the left point, and the Carolina center slashed toward the net, deked past Red Wings forward Craig Smith and zipped backdoor pass that Roslovic tapped in for his 21st goals of the year to give the Hurricanes their first lead at 5:44 of the second.
“I saw there was a little room there and tried something new, and it worked this time,” Kotkaniemi said. “Maybe I’ll do that in the future too.”
Hall and Kotkaniemi, playing with Roslovic, said their line is starting to find some chemistry. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour liked what he saw Friday.
“I thought all three of them were impactful,” Brind’Amour said. “It wasn’t one guy, it was just every shift. It was kind of another guy doing something real positive, and sometimes all three of them. And certainly on the goals, nice plays, but really just real tenacity on the puck. And that was a big line for us tonight.”
The Hurricanes added a third goal just past the halfway point of regulation, turning an offensive zone cycle into a goal.
Chatfield and Sebastian Aho worked the puck behind the Detroit net and around the boards to Jarvis on the left boards. The Carolina winger made a spinning backhand pass to Sean Walker at the left point. The defenseman moved to the open ice at the top of the left circle and dished to Chatfield, who shot from the right faceoff dot to the far side past Mrazek for his sixth goal and a 3-1 advantage at 12:18.
The three goals erased a 1-0 deficit after the first period.
Despite outshooting the Red Wings 9-6 and holding a 31-12 shot attempt advantage at 5-on-5, Carolina allowed the first goal.
Defenseman Brent Burns’ pass to Jordan Martinook at the Hurricanes blue line was disrupted by Detroit defenseman Ben Chiarot, and the puck kicked to the high slot. Red Wings sniper Alex DeBrincat settled it and first a shot into the top left corner past Frederik Andersen (25 saves) at 18:07 of the first.
Detroit put pressure back on Carolina early in the third period when Michael Rasmussen had a 1-on-1 rush against Roslovic and drove the net, banging in his third chance to cut the Hurricanes’ lead to 3-2 with just over 17 minutes left in the game.
Andersen stopped the 14 other shots he faced in the period, and Carolina’s penalty kill successfully stopped a Red Wings power play in the final four minutes to maintain the lead. With 1:11 remaining, Eric Robinson scored his career-high 13th goal into an empty net to seal the Hurricanes’ sixth straight win.
“Results have been there lately,” Kotkaniemi said, “ so we’ll just keep going.”
Notes: Dmitry Orlov missed his fourth consecutive game and Andrei Svechnikov missed his second straight. … The Hurricanes won 39 of 59 faceoffs. … Walker has points in consecutive games for the first time this season.
