As it turned out the Red Wings had enough players Saturday to face the powerful Carolina Hurricanes, never mind all the rumors swirling around the trade deadline.
And, yes, the Wings responded well after being embarrassed Thursday against Nashville.
And they still had Adam Erne.
The red-hot Erne scored a third-period goal, then scored the tie-breaker in the shootout, as the Wings defeated Carolina, 5-4.
Erne and Dylan Larkin scored in the shootout, as the Wings won the eight-round shootout, 2-1.
Erne, who continued his unexpected breakthrough offensive season with his 10th goal, gave the Wings a 4-3 lead.
Erne blocked a shot, tracked down the puck while outskating two Hurricanes trailing, and backhanded a shot over Carolina goaltender Petr Mrazek at 13:40, breaking the 3-3 tie.
But Sebastian Aho answered it — after another apparent Carolina goal was erased on interference on goaltender Thomas Greiss — tying the score 4-4 at the 16 minute mark.
Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha and Valtteri Filppula scored for the Wings (14-23-6), while Martin Necas, Jordan Staal and Dougie Hamilton answered for the Hurricanes (27-9-4).
The Wings traded defenseman Patrik Nemeth Friday to Colorado (for a 2022 fourth-round pick), then helped broker a trade between Tampa Bay and Columbus, earning a 2021 fourth-round pick from Tampa for their assistance.
Defenseman Jon Merrill was a healthy scratch Saturday, with speculation swirling he'll be headed elsewhere (Boston, New York Islanders, among others) before Monday's 3 p.m. (EST) deadline.
Forwards Sam Gagner, Luke Glendening and Darren Helm, and goaltender Jonathan Bernier have also been linked to possible deals in what could be a dramatic sell-off by the team.
Add to the fact Robby Fabbri, Gagner and Bobby Ryan (upper body, out for season) were all out of the lineup with injuries, and it was a makeshift lineup.
But the Wings rallied from a disappointing game Thursday with a gutsy effort.
It was 2-2 after one period, before Hamilton gave Carolina a 3-2 lead at 9:52 of the second period.
Hamilton gathered the puck along the boards, the defenseman cut to the middle of the ice, and snapped a shot past Greiss for his sixth goal.
The Wings failed to capitalize on a power play, but Filppula tied it on a fortunate bounce.
Mrazek kicked out a rebound, the puck deflected off both of Staal's skates before slipping through Mrazek's pads and to the back of the net.
Filppula, who was the last Wing to touch the puck, got credit for his fourth goal, and second in the last four games.
