RALEIGH, N.C. _ The Carolina Hurricanes were relieved Tuesday to get to PNC Arena and have goalie Eddie Lack there to see them.
It could have been an emotional downer for the Canes had Lack been seriously injured Monday in the overtime collision with Andreas Athanasiou of the Detroit Red Wings. Forget losing in overtime. Losing Lack would have been tough on everyone.
But Lack was OK. So were the Canes later Tuesday as they finished off the back-to-back set against the Wings with a 4-1 victory.
Goalie Cam Ward got the job done in net and the Canes' defense was active and stingy enough, allowing only a goal to rookie Tomas Nosek in the third period. The Canes have earned points in 12 straight games (8-0-4).
The Canes (34-27-14), with the point in Monday's 4-3 overtime loss, had edged within four points of the Boston Bruins and the second wild-card playoff position in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins, like the Canes, have mostly home games in the final stretch of the regular season and hosted the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Lee Stempniak and Joakim Nordstrom had first-period goals as the Canes took a 2-0 lead. The Wings, limited to four shots in the first, tried to make a push in the second period, but a goal by Carolina's Jordan Staal late had to be deflator for a team playing its third game in three days.
Elias Lindholm added a power-play goal late in the third for the Canes.
The Wings, who will miss the playoffs after 25 straight appearances, and Canes were to play their first game this season on Dec. 19, but poor ice conditions at PNC Arena forced a postponement. The game was rescheduled for Tuesday.
It was the first time since 2003 that at NHL team had played three games in three days, and fatigue could have been a factor for the Red Wings.
Missing Athanasiou was another factor. The speedy forward also was injured in scoring the overtime winner, hitting Lack's head with the right side of his body as he was pushed from behind by Canes forward Victor Rask.
Athanasiou also scored in overtime to beat the Wild as the Wings played four consecutive OT games. Nose, who did not play Monday, scored his first NHL goal in the third for Detroit.
Stempniak and Staal scored on similar shots from the top of the right circle, and Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser figured in both. Stempniak used DeKeyser as a partial screen on his shot and Staal's shot appeared to glance off DeKeyser's stick.
After goalie Petr Mrazek beat the Canes on Monday, Jimmy Howard was in net to finish off the back-to-back. Howard made some strong stops on shots by Elias Lindholm and Staal in the second period before Staal's goal, his 16th, and robbed Rask of a goal in the third.
Ward made a pivotal save on Henrik Zetterberg in the second period after the Canes, leading 2-0, killed off a Lindholm penalty. Zetterberg stickhandled his way around defenseman Jaccon Slavin in the slot to get off a forehand shot, but Ward made the stop.
Nordstrom, playing his 200th NHL game, scored off the rebound of a Brett Pesce shot as Canes coach Bill Peters shuffled three of his lines and had Nordstrom and Teuvo Teravainen on a line centered by Rask.
Canes forward Jeff Skinner had scored goals in six straight games and had points in seven straight, but those streaks ended.
