RECAP: Red Wings drop 4-1 decision to Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- As Alex Nedeljkovic pointed out after Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena, while the end result wasn't what the Detroit Red Wings had hoped for, the club continues to learn valuable lessons from playoff-bound opponents.

"You can take consistency away from all of them," said Nedeljkovic, who finished with 24 saves against the Hurricanes. "They're not always gonna be at their best. But they're gonna be at their best every single night and have that compete, drive and will to win."
Detroit was outshot, 12-6, in the first period and trailed Carolina by a pair of goals at the first intermission. Robert Hagg scored his second goal of the season at 5:05 of the second to pull the Red Wings to 2-1, but the Canes retook their two-goal lead less than five minutes later. Carolina added an empty netter at 19:18 of the third to seal the win.
"I liked our game," Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde said. "You match those two lineups next to each other and for us to hang in there and have a good chance, I'll take that any time."
The loss dropped the Red Wings to 35-36-10 (80 points) on the season, while Carolina (51-21-9; 111 points) snapped a three-game skid with the victory.
Detroit captain Dylan Larkin did not play Tuesday due to a lower-body injury.
"I don't know where he's gonna be," Lalonde said about Larkin. "He's in that day-to-day range. I don't know if he's gonna be available Thursday."
NEXT UP: Detroit will play its final game of the 2022-23 season on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning at AMALIE Arena.

SCORING SUMMARY

Carolina 1, Detroit 0 (2:46, 1st period)
Stefan Noesen went behind the net and corralled a loose puck, then squeezed it in with a wrap-around shot to open the scoring.
Carolina 2, Detroit 0 (7:50, 1st period)
Brady Skjei found Jordan Martinook for a quick back-door strike that doubled the Canes' lead.
Detroit 1, Carolina 2 (5:05, 2nd period)
After killing off a Carolina power play, David Perron dumped the puck down the ice with Joe Veleno in pursuit. Veleno gathered the puck from behind the goal line and fed Hagg in the left face-off circle, who scored a short-side goal. Hagg has notched two points in his last three games.

Carolina 3, Detroit 1 (9:10, 2nd period)
Carolina coushined its lead when Brent Burns' shot from the point went off Veleno and past Nedeljkovic.
Carolina 4, Detroit 1 (19:18, 3rd period)
Kotkaniemi potted an empty-netter in the final minute of the game to ensure a season series win against Detroit.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on learning from top-tier opponents
"We literally have double-digit players that weren't on our team not very long ago...I think you're learning about our core, which I'm excited about. I just liked our compete tonight. We're in a tough situation and not a very deep team to begin with."
Lalonde on Husso's status
"He had some lower-body soreness, so he could be available for us for Thursday."
Copp on generating offense against the Hurricanes
"It felt like we had some tic-tac-toe and good possession time down low. That's a team where there's not gonna be a lot for either team. That's just the way they play, especially here. I thought it was a pretty even game overall once we got our feet under us."
Nedeljkovic on how Carolina applied pressure in the opening frame
"I thought they had a lot of momentum in the first half of the (first) period there. Obviously they're fighting for first place in the division. They just came with a little more intensity and urgency out of the get-go. They got a couple good bounces. They're a tough team."