Andersen's stellar saves and a potent second line fueled the Hurricanes' decisive victory over the Red Wings, showcasing offensive firepower.
The Carolina Hurricanes dominated the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night at Lenovo Center, winning 5-2.
It was a strong night overall for Carolina, but especially by Frederik Andersen in net, who made 27 saves in the win, including some really good grade-A chances, and the team's second line of Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake.
The Canes enjoyed yet another early offensive outpouring, much like Thursday, as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead less than halfway through the game.
Taylor Hall got the party started, scoring a silky smooth goal off of a breakaway he orchestrated after blocking a shot at the defensive blueline.
It was the second straight game with a goal for Hall, who now has 14 tallies and 30 points with Carolina, and his line with Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake continued to look like difference makers.
Then with 7.9 seconds remaining in the first period, Sebastian Aho threaded a puck through traffic on the power play and found a friendly bounce off of Simon Edvinsson's stick to put his team up 2-0.
The Hurricanes would add to the lead quickly into the second period as Sean Walker stepped up in the neutral zone to intercept an outlet pass, then found William Carrier cross-ice, who then one-touched it to Eric Robinson in front of the net.
The Hurricanes were well in control of the game from there, but Detroit was slipping through the cracks every now and then, however, Andersen was standing tall.
The only time things started to get dicey though, was at 4v4.
As the second period came to a close, and with Andrei Svechnikov and Ben Chiarot in the box, the Canes apparently decided that they could just casually skate their way into intermission.
Detroit had other plans though, taking advantage of Carolina's lax defense and lackadaisical effort to pot two quick ones in the span of 47 seconds.
The Hurricanes have made blowing multi-goal leads a habit this year and that segment was another example in how they've been doing it.
You can't take shifts off in the NHL. You're gonna get burned.
However, the Canes took the intermission to regroup and came out to start the third period in a fury.
First Shayne Gostisbehere laced one top corner after a give-and-go with Jackson Blake, then Blake got loose on a 2-on-1 and called his shot to push Carolina's lead back up to three.
From there, the Hurricanes simply smothered the Red Wings, giving up virtually very little as they capped off their 12th straight game with a point.
Carolina will now head out on a four-game road trip out West.
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