DETROIT _ A few nights ago, his coach pulled him aside and told him the goals would come.
Prophetically soon, it turned out.
Dylan Larkin scored his first goal of the season Tuesday and then added another because when puck luck strikes, scorers answer. That led the Detroit Red Wings to a fifth straight victory as they topped the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2, at Joe Louis Arena.
Thomas Vanek got the scoring started and Andreas Athanasiou used his second goal in as many games to restore a cushion after sloppiness had seen a three-goal lead dwindle to one. Petr Mrazek made several good saves in the waning minutes after the Hurricanes pulled their goalie, and 29 total.
Vanek came through with his fourth goal and eighth point of the season less than five minutes into the game. Athanasiou _ who has taken advantage of an opening with Justin Abdelkader nursing an injury the past two games _ sent the puck out front, where Vanek sent a short shot into Carolina's net.
While there was little worry Larkin would find the back of the net again _ he led the Wings with 23 goals as a rookie _ coach Jeff Blashill still made a point of telling Larkin after Saturday's game to just keep doing what he had been doing.
The perseverance paid off when Henrik Zetterberg chipped the puck up to Larkin, who raced off on a breakaway and chucked a backhand behind Cam Ward, at 11:51. Four minutes later Larkin had No. 2, when he angled the puck in from the goal line, the puck deflecting in off Brett Pesce. Gustav Nyquist showed patience in passing the puck to Larkin.
The Hurricanes scored off a turnover at 6:43 of the second period. Frans Nielsen sent a puck off the boards intended for Brendan Smith, but Nielsen _ still adjusting to the Joe's boards, instead saw the pass picked off, and Jordan Staal score. Steve Ott tried to restore the three-goal cushion when he broke away on a penalty kill, but Ward was there with the save. Instead, Victor Rask got within a goal when he fired a shot through traffic that hit Mrazek and went in, at 13:12 of the second period.
While the puck was deep in Carolina's zone, Athanasiou hopped off the bench and skated to the right circle, where he got a pass from Luke Glendening and scored to double Detroit's lead.
A scrum punctuated the middle of the third period, when Viktor Stalberg rammed into Mike Green and Ott went after Stalberg, earning both trips to the penalty box.
