There was a storm in the forecast as Hurricane Carolina rolled into Metro Detroit Saturday night. The Wings, being the storm chasers that they are, needed to gain some ground on Carolina in the standings and two points in regulation would go a long way. Unfortunately, the Hurricanes were well rested coming off of their bye week and beat the Red Wings by a score of 3-2.

Carolina struck first and early while Gustav Nyquist was serving a tripping penalty.

Danny DeKeyser took a high-sticking penalty on the same play so the Wings had to spend another two minutes on the penalty, forcing Jimmy Howard to make this unbelievable save:

There was a scary moment when Frans Nielsen collided with Josh Jooris in front of Howard. Nielsen was slow to get up, but he was okay.

Finally, Detroit evened the game up when Tomas Tatar sniped a beauty past Cam Ward on the powerplay. And finally, Detroit’s powerplay was woken up.

There were no highlights to share in the second period. It was pretty boring, actually.

Almost halfway through the third period, Xavier Ouellet took an interference penalty. The Canes were able to convert on the ensuing powerplay.

Later in the period, the Hurricanes scored their first even strength goal when Justin Williams fired a shot past Jimmy Howard. It was messy defensive zone coverage by the Wings.

The Wings were chasing the Canes all game. They may have ended up with more scoring chances, but their 48.31% CF% leaves much to be desired. That being said, both teams seemed pretty stale tonight. Detroit just couldn’t seem to get the edge. The first period was probably their best as they lost momentum through the second and third. If it weren’t for Jimmy Howard, the score would have been much worse. At least they got a powerplay goal, though.

Tonight’s Motor City MVP is Jimmy Howard, who held the Hurricanes to 3 goals. He faced a total of 30 shots, turning away 27 of them. His .900 save percentage was okay and much better than the two previous games he played against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Dallas Stars. Howie has been key to most victories for the Wings this season. He made some massive saves against the Hurricanes to keep the Red Wings close, which is all you can ask of your goalie.

The Wings have a packed schedule in the coming week, with the first stop in New Jersey on Monday night to take on the Devils. The last time the two teams met, Nico Hischier scored two goals in his team’s 3-1 victory. Detroit will be looking for retribution on the young team. Puck drop is 7:00 P.M. and you’ll be able to watch on Fox Sports Detroit and MSG if you’re in the Garden State. The game will also be televised on Sportsnet in Canada.

As always, Brock Seguin will have your pre-game report early Monday afternoon, so be sure to check back then.