Hurricanes take over in 3rd period, beat Wings 5-2

Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast scored a pair of goals early in the third period to help the Carolina Hurricanes take over and beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 on Thursday night.

Staal’s goal 45 seconds into the period broke a 2-all tie, while Fast — who assisted on Staal’s goal when a shot attempt bounced off him to set up that rebound putaway — followed by finishing at the crease off a perfect pass from Andrei Svechnikov at 2:50.

Svechnikov, Martin Necas and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Hurricanes, who came in tied for the second most points in the league. But they got off to a slow start against a team sitting near the bottom of the NHL standings despite playing their first home game in front of limited fans.

Necas buried a shot from between the circles late in the second to tie it, then the Hurricanes controlled the final 20 minutes to claim their fourth straight win and give coach Rod Brind’amour his 100th NHL victory.

“I thought we just decided we had to get to our game,” Brind’amour said. “I think we were just fighting the whole night trying to I think find an easier way. We were fortunate to be tied going into the third. And then the guys just started playing.”

Staal also had two assists while ending an eightgame goal drought, while Svechnikov had gone without a goal for six games. Niederreiter’s score was an empty-netter at 14:55, while Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 33 saves.

Filip Zadina scored twice for the Red Wings, first for a 1-0 lead in the first period and then a 2-1 lead midway through the second. Jonathan Bernier finished with 27 saves in the Red Wings’ third straight loss.

“It’s tough,” Zadina said of the third period. “It is what it is. We’ve got to be better in the third, for sure. Then we have a chance to win the game.”