Michael Rasmussen and Andrew Copp scored for the Red Wings (22-14-3), who had won three in a row and eight of their past 10. John Gibson, who had won eight consecutive starts, made 33 saves.
“One team had legs, they had a ton of jump, they won races to pucks,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “They really overwhelmed us for two periods. We found our legs a little bit in the third, but they’re a tough team to come back against.”
Rasmussen gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 12:39 of the first period. After an errant clearing pass by Carolina defenseman Sean Walker, J.T. Compher made a backhand feed to Rasmussen, who scored on a wrist shot between the circles.
Blake tied it 1-1 at 3:22 of the second period, redirecting Gostisbehere’s shot off the shaft of his stick at the top of the crease.
“For us to respond against a really good team that’s playing really well right now, is big for our group,” Gostisbehere said. “We had a little bit of a lead, we managed their push and ‘Bus’ came up big for us.”
Robinson put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1 at 4:37. Svechnikov gathered the rebound of his own shot off the side of the net and passed across the slot to Robinson for a tap-in at the right post.
Gostisbehere pushed it to 3-1 at 15:22 after he took a pass from Jalen Chatfield at the top of the left circle before scoring on a wrist shot under the crossbar.
“It was a good moment to bear down on them and see what we were made of,” Chatfield said. “To see that we can close out and gain more confidence in that, we’re capable of that and we know that.”
