Red Wings slow Hurricanes, gain ground in wild-card race

Alex DeBrincat had a goal and an assist to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-3 win over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Ben Chiarot, Marco Kasper, Patrick Kane and Michael Rasmussen also scored for Detroit. Dylan Larkin logged two assists, and Cam Talbot made 30 saves.

The Red Wings (35-33-7, 77 points) moved within four points of the Montreal Canadiens for the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot and snapped a six-game losing streak against the Hurricanes.

Carolina (46-25-4, 96 points) got goals from Jackson Blake, Eric Robinson and Brent Burns but lost for just the third time in 15 games. Jaccob Slavin notched two assists while Pyotr Kochetkov turned aside 17 shots.

Detroit opened the scoring with 10:57 remaining in the first period on a goal by Chiarot, who took a loose puck in the left faceoff circle and rifled a slap shot above Kochetkov's glove.

The Red Wings struck again just 26 seconds later, taking a 2-0 lead when Kasper pounced on a loose puck in the Carolina crease and backhanded the puck into a vacated goal.

Carolina answered 1:57 into the second period, cutting the Detroit lead to 2-1. Seth Jarvis stole a pass from Detroit defenseman Justin Holl behind the Red Wings' net and fed a pass out in front to Blake, who fired a shot underneath the crossbar and in.

The Red Wings then took a 4-1 lead on goals 21 seconds apart later in the second.

First, Kane scored on a breakaway with 10:55 left in the second, and then Rasmussen got free in front of the Carolina goal and backhanded a shot past Kochetkov.

Carolina got one back with 7:24 to go in the second, when Robinson tipped a shot past Talbot.

The Hurricanes pulled within 4-3 when Burns' shot got past Talbot with 7:16 remaining in the game.

The Hurricanes pulled Kochetkov with 2:08 remaining for an extra attacker but couldn't get the equalizer. DeBrincat scored an empty-net goal just before the final buzzer sounded.

--Field Level Media