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Pair of power-play goals lift Red Wings past Hurricanes

Oct 14, 2008 - 3:22 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- After a surprising defeat on opening night, the Detroit Red Wings appear to have returned to Stanley Cup title form.

Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom each recorded a power-play goals and Ty Conklin made 27 saves as the Red Wings handed the Carolina Hurricanes their first loss of the young season with a 3-1 triumph on Monday.

Henrik Zetterberg added an empty-net goal with 16 seconds left to seal the win.

"(Conklin) played really well in his last exhibition game and we wanted to get him in. We didn't want to wait," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "He gave us a chance - and that's all you can ask from a goaltender."

On Thursday, the Red Wings raised their championship banner and promptly suffered a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, putting a damper on the celebration.

But an impressive performance by Conklin in his season debut and a pair of successful chances with the man-advantage gave Detroit its second consecutive road win.

"There's always more nerves in the first game with a new team," said Conklin, who spent last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins. "You always want to impress, too. You try not to do too much and play outside of yourself. It's nice to contribute."

Holmstrom scored the game-winner just 5:04 into the second period after a series of nifty passes set him up in front of the Carolina net. Defenseman Brian Rafalski found Marian Hossa along the left side of the goal and the Slovak moved the puck to Holmstrom, who beat Cam Ward for his third goal of the season.

"They're just too good to be in the (penalty) box," Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour said. "They move it around really well and that's pretty much the difference in the game. We took too many penalties in the second and got out of our flow. I don't know how many even-strength shifts we had, but I know it wasn't many."

The Red Wings took advantage of their first power-play opportunity 6:55 into the opening session. Lidstrom blasted a slap shot from just inside the blue line, beating Ward to the glove side for his first goal of the season.

"It is important to get the power play going," Lidstrom said. "Tonight that won the game for us."

Despite a successful four-minute penalty kill midway through the second period, Carolina coach Peter Laviolette was not pleased with his team's performance while shorthanded.

"The penalty kill needs to be better," Laviolette said. "We didn't execute very well in the first couple (of minutes) and they end up scoring. That one went well. Again, too many penalties, too many times in the box. We should have taken another step or had a little more discipline or gone quietly to the box. These things wear down on your team a little bit."

Defenseman Joe Corvo knotted the game at 1-1 just 57 seconds into the second. Fellow blue-liner Frantisek Kaberle fed Corvo, who promptly scored his first goal of the season.

Ward finished with 33 saves for the Hurricanes.