Detroit – The Red Wings added an exclamation point Monday to a memorable evening.
On the night the organization raised and retired Sergei Fedorov’s No. 91 to the rafters, the Wings capped the festivities with a 4-3 overtime victory over Carolina.
Andrew Copp scored at 3 minutes, 27 seconds of overtime, his eighth goal, converting a feed from Alex DeBrincat right in front of the net.
Former Wings defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere’s power-play goal, with Carolina enjoying a two-man advantage, tied the game 3-3 at 16:59. Carolina’s Jackson Blake (power play, 4:44) and Seth Jarvis (shorthanded, 7:56) cut the Wings’ lead to 3-2.
With the victory, the Wings (28-15-4, 60 points) moved into first place tie in the Eastern Conference with Carolina (28-15-4, 60 points) – and who would have thought that was possible this late in the season last summer?
James van Riemsdyk (power play, 12th goal), DeBrincat (24th goal) and Albert Johansson (first) scored the Wings’ goals.
BOX SCORE: Red Wings 4, Hurricanes 3 (OT)
The Wings have won four consecutive games.
Van Riemsdyk opened the scoring with his specialty, a net-front goal on the power play. No Carolina defender was near van Riemsdyk near the blue paint, and van Riemsdyk got to a rebound of Moritz Seider’s shot and flipped the puck past goaltender Frederik Andersen at 1 minute, 32 seconds of the first period.
The Wings extended the lead in the second period.
DeBrincat made it 2-0 with his 24th goal at 1:28. DeBrincat got the puck near the hashmarks, drifted into the slot, and cleanly beat Andersen.
A little over three minutes later, Johansson pushed the lead to 3-0 with his first goal of the season. Patrick Kane found Johansson pinching from the point and fed Johansson, who snapped a shot over Andersen at 4:54.
@tkulfan
