RALEIGH — Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes doubled up the Detroit Red Wings in a wild six-goal second period en route to a 7-3 win in front of 15,383 Friday at PNC Arena.
After the teams came out of the opening period tied at 1, the Hurricanes scored just 27 seconds into the second period when Warren Foegele corralled a loose puck in front and backhanded a pass to Aho, who scored past Jimmy Howard to give Carolina the lead.
Detroit coach Jeff Blashill challenged for goaltender interference on Foegele, but the goal was upheld and the Red Wings were handed a penalty for losing the challenge.
The Hurricanes made Blashill and the Wings penalty kill pay, with Aho getting the puck down low to Nino Niederreiter for his second goal of the season — on a play that was reviewed by the officials when it was initially deemed a dead play — after the Carolina forward jammed the puck past Howard to make it 3-1.
“We’ve been winning, so it helps,” Aho said getting three of his nine points on the season in the win. “But I’m not going to lie, it’s always nice to score and get some points for myself too.”
The review iPads came out again when Foegele scored on a 2-on-1 feed from Aho, but the goal was overturned when Foegele was deemed offside.
“I think the refs got it right, really all of them,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
And that was just the first 6:03 of the second period.
Anthony Mantha, who scored for Detroit in the first, scored again at 8:28 on the power play, but Carolina’s Martin Necas got his third goal of the year 26 seconds later — off a great move and pass from Ryan Dzingel — to push the Hurricanes’ lead to 4-2.
Aho scored his second goal of the night, knocking the aftermath of defenseman Dougie Hamilton’s shot off the end boards through a maze of bodies and in at 11:03 to make it 5-2.
Tyler Bertuzzi redirected a Dylan Larkin pass to cut the lead to two at 16:12 of the second for the last of six goals scored in the period.
“I think Roddy was not too happy a lot of times, but it was a pretty open game,” said Hamilton, who had three assists. “Not every game is like that, so we gotta make sure we’re not playing like that all the time. It’s not the best way to win hockey games.”
Brind’Amour, however, was pleased his team was able to go back and forth with the Wings even if that’s not his preferred method for getting two points — though it helps when goalie Petr Mrazek (29 saves) is dialed in.
“We don’t want to be trading chance for chance, but our goalie was really solid,” Brind’Amour said. “Petr did a great job holding us in and allowing us to, at times, get to our game. … He’s been holding us in and allowing to kind of stick with what we’re trying to do.”
But despite Mrazek’s efforts and five Carolina goals, the game was still in doubt when Detroit went on a power play early in the third.
But instead of being an opportunity for the Red Wings to get back in the game, their power play turned into an insurance goal for the Hurricanes.
With top penalty-killing forward Jordan Staal in the box, Brock McGinn rushed into the Detroit end with a hustling Teuvo Teravainen on a 2 on 1. The lone player back tried to take away the pass, so McGinn called his own number, whistling a shorthanded shot past Jonathan Bernier — who had replaced Howard after Carolina’s fifth goal — for his first goal of the season and a dagger in Detroit’s comeback effort.
“We had a little odd-man rush there and the D kind of slid, “McGinn said, “so I just kind of outwaited him and then got it to the net, and fortunately I was able to beat the goalie there.”
Teravainen added an empty-netter with 3:28 left to officially extinguish any chance of a Red Wings rally.
Notes: The win was Mrazek’s 15th straight at PNC Arena dating back to February and improved to 7-1-1, with a 2.33 goals-against average and .915 save percentage. … Andrei Svechnikov opened the scoring in the first period, giving him goals in three straight games, five goals over that stretch, and two points in each of the last three. … Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin had three assists. … Carolina defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk got his first point of the season, a secondary assist on Necas’ goal. … Necas had a game-time seven shot attempts and finished with three hits. … Hamilton’s three points give him 16 on the season, second only to Washington’s John Carlson (23 points) among NHL defensemen.
