Red Wings fall behind early, can't recover in 5-2 loss to Hurricanes

Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News on Feb 28, 2026

Published in Hockey

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RALEIGH, N.C. — The NHL trading deadline is Friday, and the Red Wings might be in need of some sort of spark.

Saturday's 5-2 loss to the Hurricanes in Carolina was the latest evidence of a Wings team that could use a boost.

The defeat left the Wings with only two victories in their last seven games (2-4-1). They've also only scored more than two goals just once during that span (4-3 shootout loss to Washington).

With the loss, the Wings (33-20-6, 72 points) were in danger of slipping into a wild-card position pending later results.

Former Wings defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere stung the Wings with his 10th goal, early in the third period, giving Carolina a 4-2 lead.

Gostisbehere and Jackson Blake executed a clean give-and-go and Gostisbehere skated into the circle and snapped a shot past goaltender Cam Talbot at 2 minutes, 18 seconds.

The goal from Gostisbehere curbed momentum that was all on the Wings' side.

The Wings put seven of their 23 shots through two periods in the last seven minutes of the second period. Carolina was dominant to that instant, but matching penalties to Ben Chiarot and Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov put the teams four-on-four.

Simon Edvinsson's shot from the point, his seventh goal, cut the deficit to 3-1 at 18:26 and ignited the Wings.

Just 47 seconds later Patrick Kane skated through traffic in the zone, found a spot near the dot, and with Andersen screened, scored his ninth goal — and ending a 14-game goal-scoring drought — to cut the deficit to 3-2 at 19:13.

Tayllor Hall, Sebastian Aho (power play) and Eric Robinson scored the first three Carolina goals, Robinson's tap in at the crease giving the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead at 2:52 of the second period.

Carolina (38-15-6, 82 points) hasn't lost in regulation time in the last 12 games (10-0-2) and lead the Eastern Conference.