Red Wings' playoff hopes sputter again, blown away by Hurricanes, 4-0

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Red Wings knew this would be a difficult road trip, said it all along, and it's proving to be.

The Wings dropped their third consecutive game Thursday on this rugged trip — and there's two more to go before returning home — losing 4-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Carolina (46-21-7), which clinched its sixth consecutive playoff berth with the win, scored four times in the second period to take command and Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen stopped 24 shots for the shutout.

The Wings (36-30-7) received bad news before the game that forwards Patrick Kane and Austin Czarnik were unavailable because of illness. They went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen instead, bringing in forward Daniel Sprong and defenseman Justin Holl.

That was the first inkling this could be not the Wings' night, but things steamrolled from there.

And the thing is, this was an evening the Wings could have capitalized in this playoff race — if you can call it that.

Both Philadelphia (82 points) and Washington (81 points), just above the Wings (79) in the standings, both lost. So, in positive news, the Wings didn't lose any ground in the standings, though they only have nine games now left on the schedule (Washington, who holds the last wild-card spot, have one game in hand).

The Wings close out this trip with games Saturday in Florida and Monday in Tampa. The Wings have lost to Nashville, Washington and Carolina on this trip, all playoff teams as of currently, just as Florida and Tampa are.

The Wings have lost nine of their last 13 games (3-9-1).

After a first period in which the Wings were out-shot 15-3 — and it felt like that — Carolina took control on the scoreboard also, in the second period.

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