For two periods, the Carolina Hurricanes played the kind of hockey game they wanted to but the Detroit Red Wings turned on the gas in the third to take over the game and defeated the Canes, 4-3 on Saturday night at the PNC Arena.
It seemed that everything was tilted in Carolina's favor. They were facing a tired team who had played and traveled the night before. They were in front of a near sell-out, opening night crowd. They were facing their opponent's backup goalie.
But even though the home team nearly dominated the visitors for two periods, the Wings were able to pour it on in the third period to salt away another win.