Wings' playoff hopes sputter again, blown away by Hurricanes, 4-0

Raleigh, N.C. — The Red Wings knew this would be a difficult road trip, said it all along, and it's proving to be.

The Wings dropped their third consecutive game Thursday on this rugged trip — and there's two more to go before returning home — losing 4-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Carolina (46-21-7), who clinched their sixth consecutive playoff berth with the win, scored four times in the second period to take command and Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen stopped 24 shots for the shutout.

"They're a good team and they capitalized on their chances," defenseman Ben Chiarot said. "They're a team that's contending for a Stanley Cup right now. They know how to play and have been playing that way for a long time. A lot of dangerous players over there, and if you give them a couple of chances to put it in, they'll do it.

"We didn't capitalize on ours."

The Wings (36-30-7) received bad news before the game that forwards Patrick Kane and Austin Czarnik were unavailable because of illness. They went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen instead, bringing in forward Daniel Sprong and defenseman Justin Holl.

BOX SCORE: Hurricanes 4, Red Wings 0

That was the first inkling this could be not the Wings' night, but things steamrolled from there.

"We knew we'd be up against it, only from where the lineup was but to have it happen right before the game," coach Derek Lalonde said. "It's a bit of stinger. That's a tough team to play 11 forwards with because of the pace they play at. We probably could have done more to give ourselves a chance but you look back at this game and there was opportunity in this game."

Lalonde felt the second-period implosion may have began in the first period.

"I'm glad we got out of the first (0-0, though being outshot 15-3)," Lalonde said. "I know the shot volume is extremely lopsided but that's them. If you look at the underlying numbers in the first it wasn't that bad. We'd like to steal the period but we didn't and then a little breakdown on the track in the second, and they score on the power play, and it got away from us."

The thing is, this was an evening the Wings could have capitalized in this playoff race — if you can call it that.

Both Philadelphia (82 points) and Washington (81 points), just above the Wings (79) in the standings, both lost. So, in positive news, the Wings didn't lose any ground in the standings, though they only have nine games now left on the schedule (Washington, who holds the last wild-card spot, have one game in hand).

The Wings close out this trip with games Saturday in Florida and Monday in Tampa. The Wings have lost to Nashville, Washington and Carolina on this trip, all playoff teams currently, just as Florida and Tampa are.

The Wings have lost nine of their last 13 games (3-9-1).

"We still have nine games left here to go, every night is important, every game we treat it as a playoff game," Chiarot said. "It's not always going to go your way. You're going to go down in a series, in games. We're plugging away here, that's what we're doing here."

Carolina took control on the scoreboard also, in the second period. Sebastian Aho opened the scoring, his 32nd goal, converting a pass through the slot from Jake Guentzel off the rush at 4 minutes, 42 seconds.

Just 57 seconds later, the Hurricanes pushed the lead to 2-0 on a Seth Jarvis goal (his 28th). Aho worked the puck into the zone, through the Wings, and found Jarvis on the wing who beat Reimer from the hashmarks.

"Those two quick goals," said defenseman Moritz Seider of the game's difference. "Those are easy mistakes to eliminate and you kind of lose the momentum to the game. We just have to find a way to get a gritty goal."

Carolina extended the lead to 3-0 at 10:46 on Martin Necas' 23rd goal. Evgeny Kuznetsov, like Guentzel acquired at the trade deadline, found Necas sneaking from around the net and fed Necas for a one-timer.

The Hurricanes completed the second-period barrage with Brady Skjei's 13th goal, at 16:23. Skjei drove a shot off the end-board, got the rebound, and snapped a shot that dribbled through and past Reimer.

"Obviously like tonight, some goals Reimer will want back and Alex (Lyon) would say the same thing (from previous games)," Lalonde said. "This time we need everyone on their top games and our goaltending, too. But I've actually been pleased with both of those guys. They're giving everything they can and giving us a chance every night."

The victory completed a three-game season sweep for the Hurricanes over the Wings. Carolina outshot the Wings, 33-24.

"They're a team that shoots a lot and they live off their shots," Seider said. "They are trying to create chaos in front of the net but we survived that pretty good and still had looks. We just didn't find a way to get one (into) the net and suddenly it's 4-0.

"It's hard to not be frustrated with that."

tkulfan@detroitnews.com

@tkulfan