In Raleigh Sunday night, Cam Ward made 28 saves to backstop the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
Ward’s goaltending has improved as steadily as the Canes’ offense on their recent homestand. They won their last four games at home.
Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin broke through the goal score sheet for the first time this season and Victor Rask added a goal in the win for the Canes.
“The last two games I haven’t been shooting as much,” Lindholm said. “Obviously when you haven’t scored for 14 or more games, it’s hard to keep going, believing in yourself. Hopefully now it will turn around.”
WATCH: All Jets vs. Hurricanes highlights
The Jets lost their third straight game and fell to 9-10-2 on the season.
“They gave what they had. They can barely see straight, can’t pass the puck as well as they would like. They’ve got nothing left,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said “They did what they could. That team played 17 [games] in 29 [days] and they’ve been all over God’s green earth, playing a 5 o’clock game today. They’re beat up and sore and tired.”
Connor Hellebuyck was busy making 37 saves on the night.
“These three games are done,” Jets center Mark Scheifele said. “You can’t worry about them anymore. Just focus on the next one. Learn from the last three and come back stronger for the next one. We worked hard and played more of our game.”
In Detroit, the visiting Calgary Flames improved to 8-11-1 on the season in a 3-2 victory over the Red Wings.
Dougie Hamiltonhad three assists in the win.
“It’s huge to get the first game of this trip,” Hamilton said. “We’re looking at this almost like a playoff series, because we know we have to get some wins, and it was great to get this kind of start.”
Chad Johnson made 21 saves in the win and Jimmy Howard took the loss on 23 saves.
“Obviously when we aren’t scoring goals in bunches, I can’t give up three,” Howard said. “I’ve got to go out there and make saves for the guys, and they got three past me tonight. That’s tough.”
WATCH: All Flames vs. Red Wings highlights
“I thought that was a very even game, but we took advantage of the chances we created,” Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan said.
After a fast start, the Wings have gone 2-8-1.
“We better pick ourselves up and come to work on Monday to get better,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “We have to pick ourselves up in a hurry and focus on winning a hockey game on Wednesday.”
Tomas Tatar and Anthony Mantha scored for the Red Wings.
“Losing is not fun, but we have to turn this around. We’ve got to grind out a win,” the Red Wings Henrik Zetterberg said of the losing trend.
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