Carolina Hurricanes keep playoff hopes alive after shutting out second place Detroit Red Wings –NHL Update
Unlike Calgary Flames that was eliminated from the playoffs race on Wednesday night, Carolina Hurricanes kept themselves alive and fighting after shutting out Detroit Red Wings. Ninth placed Hurricanes moved within two points reach of the eighth spot in
the Eastern Conference after defeating Detroit, 3-0, at the RBC Centre in North Carolina.
Carolina still has a chance of defeating either eighth placed New York Rangers or seventh placed Buffalo Sabres, each having two games remaining. If Hurricanes can manage to win both games, and either New York or Buffalo lose at least one, then it can climb
into the top eight of the Eastern Conference.
After hammering a team like Detroit, it certainly seems Hurricanes can improve its position by beating Tampa Bay Lightning and Atlanta Thrashers in its upcoming matchups.
Home goalie, Cam Ward, played spectacularly, saying that he and his team refused to give up after making a 42-shot saving performance. Ward blanked Red Wings for his fourth shutout of the season and 16th of his career.
"A couple good point-blank saves on a few of us that turned the game and kept the game tight and in their favour", Red Wings’ centre, Mike Modano, said.
Detroit’s goalie, Jimmy Howard, played tight in the net and did not let any shots pass through him during the first period and was able to stop 29 of 32 attempts at his goal.
His line of defence was broken after Derek Joslin scored the opening goal of the night during the first and only power-play opportunity of the second period.
All-Star rookie, Jeff Skinner, made the crowd roar when he scored his fourth goal in the past five games, making it the 30th of his first National Hockey League season.
The 18-year-old scored after rebounding Eric Staal’s slap shot which bounced off Jimmy Howard’s pads, extending the lead to 2-0 with less than a minute remaining.
"It's a lot of emotions when you get down to this time of year", Carolina’s centre, Jeff Skinner, said. "It's exciting to come to the rink and have a chance. That's all you can ask for".
Detroit’s coach, Mike Babcock, was anxious as his team entered the final period with a two goal deficit. He termed the second goal as a knife in the team’s back that paralysed them.
Erik Cole scored another for Carolina early in the third period which fully paralyzed Red Wings, earning Eric Staal his third assist of the night.
Cole’s 25th of the season came right after Hurricanes was able to successfully kill a four minute penalty that teammate, Drayson Bowman, had been awarded with for high-sticking.
Hurricanes move on to Atlanta to face Thrashers on Friday while Red Wings will host Chicago Blackhawks the same day.
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