BBC SPORT | Other Sports | US Sport | Wings close to clinching Cup

Carolina Hurricanes 0-3 Detroit Red Wings
(Detroit leads best-of-seven NHL finals 3-1)

Regular-season champions Detroit moved to within one game of capturing the Stanley Cup after a 3-0 triumph over Carolina on Monday.

Third-period goals by Igor Larionov and Brendan Shanahan lifted the Red Wings to a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven National Hockey League Finals.

They could hoist the cup with a victory in game five on Thursday in Detroit.

Dominik Hasek, the 1998 Czech Olympic gold medal hero, made 17 saves for his sixth play-off shutout.

Brett Hull opened the scoring for Detroit after six minutes and 32 seconds of the second period.

Brendan Shanahan celebrates scoring his team's third goal
Shanahan celebrates scoring the third goal

Russia's Larionov doubled the margin three minutes 43 seconds into the third period and Shanahan added another with five minutes 17 seconds remaining.

"As the series goes on, individually and collectively, we seem to grow stronger and stronger," Shanahan said.

"You feel the excitement as soon as the play-offs start but it's a controlled excitement. The next one is the one we have to dig for the deepest."

Shanahan said the Red Wings were wary of pushing too hard too soon after the strain of a triple-overtime triumph just two nights earlier.

"We kept the shifts short, especially early in the game," he said. "We tried to use a lot of pace and momentum."


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