Larkin's 2 Goals Lead Red Wings Past Hurricanes 4-2
DETROIT (AP) — Dylan Larkin owes his grandmother one more goal.
Larkin scored two goals to lead the Detroit Red Wings to their fifth consecutive win, a 4-2 decision over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
Larkin, who is from the Detroit-area suburb of Waterford, always scored goals in youth hockey games after he had lunch that day with his grandmother, Alice Larkin.
Larkin took her to lunch Tuesday and she was at the game Tuesday night. After Larkin scored his goals in the first period, Alice Larkin was interviewed by Red Wings local television rights holder FOX-Sports Detroit and said she wanted a hat trick.
She also said that she gave him $5 per goal when he was growing up.
"I'm not going to take her money," the forward said with a grin. "It was pretty cool that I was able to score when she was in the building. She did say she wanted three so I was one short."
Larkin led the Red Wings with 23 goals last season as a 19-year-old rookie but had not scored in 2016-17, until his breakaway goal with 8:09 left in the first period.
"It was a good feeling. I guess a sigh of relief," Larkin said.
Andreas Athanasiou had a goal and an assist and Thomas Vanek scored for Detroit (5-2-0). Petr Mrazek made 28 saves for the Red Wings, whose last five-game winning streak was Jan. 13-27, 2015. Detroit is 4-0-0 at home this season.
"We want wins. So whether they're at home or on the road, we want wins," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "You want to do a good job obviously in your home building. There's certain advantages you have. But you also got to be able to win on the road."
Jordan Staal and Victor Rask scored for Carolina while Cam Ward stopped 21 shots. The Hurricanes fell behind 3-0 in the first period.
"They were quicker than us early," Carolina coach Bill Peters said. "That was obvious. They had a lot of odd-man rushes."
It looked like the Hurricanes had made it a one-goal game late but an apparent goal by Teuvo Teravainen with 3:03 left was waved off because he deflected a shot in with a high stick.
Athanasiou gave Detroit a 4-2 lead with 2:56 left in the second period on a wrist shot from the right circle. It was Athanasiou's second goal of the season.
That was after Carolina scored twice in the second to pull within a goal.
Staal put the Hurricanes on the board 6:43 into the middle period when he capitalized on a 2-on-0 break after a turnover in his own zone by Detroit's Frans Nielsen. Staal beat Mrazek high on the glove side for his third goal.
Rask made it 3-2 with 6:48 left in the second period. His shot from low in the left circle went in off Mrazek for Rask's fourth goal. It came four seconds after Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith returned to the ice after a holding penalty.
"We started moving, started making plays. We weren't really moving our feet," Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk said.
Vanek opened the scoring 4:53 into the game when he put a one-time shot from the slot through Ward's pads. It was Vanek's fourth goal.
Larkin's second goal was 4:04 after his first when his attempted pass from along the goal line to Ward's left deflected in off Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce, who was sliding in an attempt to block the pass.
NOTES: Detroit LW Justin Abdelkader missed his second game with a lower body injury. He is listed as day-to-day. ... Carolina F Jeff Skinner did not play because of an undisclosed injury. ... Hurricanes LW Andrej Nestrasil and RW Martin Frk were both waived by the Red Wings and played on the fourth line Tuesday night with C Jay McClement. ... Peters is a former assistant coach with the Red Wings.
UP NEXT:
Hurricanes: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday.
Red Wings: At the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
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