Wings Blank ‘Canes, Clinch Third in Atlantic

The Detroit Red Wings closed out their regular season schedule with a 2-0 shutout of the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night, earning the Atlantic Division’s third seed for the coming playoffs.

Goalie Petr Mrazek stopped at 35 shots he faced in leading the Red Wings to victory.

Combined with the Montreal Canadiens’ defeat of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit’s win locked the Red Wings into a first-round matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Just 48 seconds into the game, Landon Ferraro scored what would be the game-winner, his first career NHL goal. Ferraro attempted a shot from low on the left wing boards but it was blocked. He picked up his own rebound and carried it behind the net, beating Carolina netminder Cam Ward on a wraparound chance.

Joakim Andersson would score the game’s only other goal on an empty-net tally.

Ward finished the night with 27 saves on 28 shots against.

The Hurricanes had two power play chances to the Red Wings’ one.

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Detroit’s series with Tampa Bay is expected to start on Thursday… Detroit regulars Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Niklas Kronwall were all rested for the game… Defenseman Brendan Smith was benched after playing the puck with his glove from the bench on Thursday in Montreal… Tomas Jurco returned to the Detroit lineup… With Detroit’s usual captains out, Daniel Cleary, Jonathan Ericsson, and Darren Helm all wore alternate captains’ As… Justin Abdelkader remained out due to injury… Defenseman Alexey Marchenko was called up to play and will stay with the team for Game One.