Lindholm lifts Hurricanes past Red Wings

DETROIT -- Elias Lindholm scored two power-play goals to help the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.
Lindholm replaced injured forward Sebastian Aho on Carolina's top line and power-play unit and had his first two power-play goal game in the NHL.

WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Red Wings highlights]
"With injuries come opportunities," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "There was extra ice time tonight because we didn't have Sebastian, and Elias took credit. That's exactly what you want to see your players do."
The Hurricanes (21-17-8), who were 2-5-1 in their previous eight games, won their first game after their League-mandated five-day break. Justin Williams also scored, and Cam Ward made 23 saves.
"Every win is huge when you are fighting for the playoffs, but these are two really good points," Williams said. "When you are coming off the bye, you have to get your pace back and your legs back, and we did that tonight."

Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit (18-20-7), which has lost four of its past five (1-4-0) after a four-game winning streak. Jimmy Howard made 27 saves.
"I don't think about whether things are slipping away or not," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I do know there is an urgency to win now. There's no question about that."
Detroit nearly got off to a fast start, but Dylan Larkin missed the net on a breakaway eight seconds into the game.
"We had talked before the game about being competitive all game, and then I'm facing a breakaway off the opening face-off," Ward said. "Luckily he missed, and I think that got us going a little."
Lindholm gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 2:57 of the first period, tapping Jordan Staal's pass into the open side of the net 10 seconds after a tripping penalty against Gustav Nyquist.
Detroit is missing three penalty-killing forwards; Luke Glendening, Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader are injured.
"We have some young guys on the penalty kill tonight, guys who haven't gotten a lot of reps," Blashill said. "Those guys made a couple mistakes out there."
Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser took a penalty as Lindholm scored, and Howard had to make a point-blank glove save on Jeff Skinner to prevent the Hurricanes from extending their lead.

"We got that quick breakaway, and I think we got satisfied with ourselves and took our foot off the gas," Larkin said.
Tatar made it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 16:37, one-timing Mike Green's feed for his 12th goal.
Tatar hit the goal post at 1:52 of the second period, and Howard denied Brock McGinn on a breakaway at 18:04, keeping the game tied going into the third period.
"I thought our guys lost their legs a little in the second, especially with the long changes, but they sucked it up for the third," Peters said.
Lindholm scored his second goal at 6:54 of the third period, banking a shot off Howard's back to give Carolina a 2-1 lead. It was his first two-goal game since Jan. 8, 2016, in a 4-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
"It felt great to contribute, but this was one of those games where everyone stepped up," Lindholm said.
Martin Frk nearly tied the game with 3:53 remaining but hit the left goal post.
Williams made it 3-1 at 18:02, one-timing McGinn's pass with Howard stranded on the other side of the crease.

Goal of the game

Lindholm's power-play goal at 2:57 of the first period.

Save of the game

Ward's save against Henrik Zetterberg at 13:20 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Howard's glove save against Skinner at 4:59 of the first period.

They said it

"(Lindholm) gets us the early power-play goal, and then Skinner could have had another one right away if not for Howard's stop. We got another power-play goal in the third, and then we had a huge penalty kill at the end of the game. Our special teams were a major part of this game." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"We can't look at the (playoff) picture right now. We've got to look at some video, figure out what we are doing wrong and go from there. We've got a few more games before the (All-Star) break, and we need to get some wins." -- Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall

Need to know

Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley left the game in the second period because of a lower-body injury. Blashill said he is "very questionable" for the game against the New Jersey Devils on Monday. … Larkin has 36 points (seven goals, 29 assists) in 45 games. He had 32 points (17 goals, 15 assists) in 80 games last season.

What's next

Hurricanes:Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday (6 p.m. ET; FS-CR, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Red Wings:At the New Jersey Devils on Monday (7 p.m. ET; SN, MSG, FS-D, NHL.TV)