DETROIT (AP) - Henrik Zetterberg stood on the bench to acknowledge a loud ovation, a round of cheers for a milestone goal.
Zetterberg scored the go-ahead goal in the second period to tie Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay on Detroit’s career list and the Red Wings went on to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Saturday night.
His ninth goal this season was the 335th of his career. In the franchise’s record books, Zetterberg trails just four greats: Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio and Sergei Fedorov.
“It’s a pretty cool list,” Zetterberg said.
To move up a spot in the record books, Zetterberg stood in front of the net and redirected a puck past Carolina goaltender Scott Darling.
“He’s an elite player because of his hockey sense,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “He knows where the puck is and where it needs to go, and he knows where he needs to be. That’s how he’s been making plays like that for his entire career.”
Danny DeKeyser gave Detroit a 1-0 lead late in the first period and Trevor Daley scored to provide a two-goal cushion late in the second period.
Jimmy Howard had 28 saves for the Red Wings. They had lost three straight.
“We need to get on a roll,” Howard said. “We’ve been searching for that all season.”
With a slim shot to make the playoffs for the second straight year, the franchise is trying to trade players for draft picks. Detroit defenseman Mike Green, a top candidate to be dealt in part because his contract is expiring, missed his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury.
“This time of the year, this is the free agent rental market for the most part,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “We’re going to entertain anything that we think that will help us be better in the future.”
The Hurricanes have lost a season-high five straight. The slump has hurt Carolina’s chances of earning a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2009, which was the only year the franchise has played beyond the regular season since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006.
Carolina’s Noah Hanifin scored midway through the second period to make it 1-all. Darling, who was beaten on his glove side twice, 19 shots for the Hurricanes.
Carolina started strong, outshooting Detroit 7-0, and Justin Faulk had a goal waved off because he appeared to score with his skate.
“We’ve got to find a way to score more goals,” Faulk said. “Our first power play created some traffic and rebounds, but mine didn’t count and we didn’t get anything in after that. The power play wasn’t good after that, and it hasn’t been for a while.”
The Red Wings rallied to score first and Zetterberg’s goal seemed to give the struggling team an emotional lift.
The Hurricanes pulled Darling to add an extra skater late in the game, but had to put him back in net because Derek Ryan was penalized for tripping.
“We had a good start, but having that puck go in off Justin’s skate was a big point in the game, and the second big one was getting the penalty right after we tied the game,” Peters said. “They got the game-winning goal on that power play, and we didn’t do much after that.”
NOTES: Carolina’s Jordan Staal missed a second straight game because of a family concern. … Howe scored a franchise-record 786 goals and is followed by Yzerman (692), Delvecchio (456) and Fedorov (400). … Zetterberg has scored two times in a four-game stretch for the first time since opening the season with four goals in seven games. … Hurricanes equipment manager Skip Cunningham was hit by a broken stick blade in the second period and needed 10 stitches to close a cut above his upper lip. … Carolina put D Lucas Wallmark in the lineup a day after calling him up from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: Stay on the road to face Boston on Tuesday night and Philadelphia on Thursday night.
Red Wings: Travel to play the New York Rangers on Sunday night.
___
More AP NHL: www.apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
Please read our comment policy before commenting.