Hurricanes 3, Red Wings 0
Cam Ward turned aside all 42 shots he faced and captain Eric Staal set up all three goals as the Carolina Hurricanes skated to a 3-0 home triumph over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.
Rookie Jeff Skinner collected his 30th goal of the season and Erik Cole and defenseman Derek Joslin also tallied for Carolina (39-30-11), which has won seven of its last nine to pull to within two points of the eighth-place New York Rangers (43-32-5) in the Eastern Conference standings. The Hurricanes and Rangers both have two games remaining, with the latter holding the tiebreaker.
Ward recorded his fourth shutout of the season and 16th career by turning aside 18 shots in the first period, 11 in the second and 13 in the third.
After Joslin opened the scoring with a power-play tally 4:04 into the second period, Skinner doubled the advantage by beating Jimmy Howard on a wraparound with 73 seconds left in the session.
Cole capped the scoring with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle for his 25th goal of the season just 5:44 into the third period.
To make matters worse for the Central Division champion Red Wings, Henrik Zetterberg suffered a lower-body injury after he fell awkwardly following a hit by defenseman Bryan Allen in the first period. The Swede did not return to the contest.
Howard finished with 29 saves for Detroit (46-24-10), which remained one point behind the San Jose Sharks (47-23-9) for second place in the Western Conference standings. The Pacific Division champion Sharks dropped a 6-2 decision to the Anaheim Ducks later on Wednesday.