x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Blunt Force Concussion: Blackhawks vs. Hurricanes Preview

Another one of the league’s top teams is at the UC on Monday night.

Credit: Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

If recent trends hold, the Blackhawks will likely be very much up for the challenge on Monday night when another one of the league’s top teams visits the United Center in the Carolina Hurricanes.

Carolina enters this game the way it has entered most games over the last several seasons: near the top of the league standings, but never quite at the top. The Hurricanes have three straight 100-point seasons and are on pace for a fourth with 57 in 46 games this season, firmly entrenched in a playoff spot by being third in the Metropolitan Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference. They’ll almost certainly be back in the postseason, but that’s always where things seem to go wrong in one way or another for Carolina, as this team has reached the conference finals in 2019 and 2023 but hasn’t reached the Stanley Cup Final since winning it back in 2006.

The offense hasn’t suffered too much from losing our prodigal son Teuvo Teravainen in free agency. Martin Necas is on pace for the best season of his career with 51 points (16 G, 35 A) in 46 games while Sebastian Aho continues to flourish at 44 (13 G, 31 A) in 46. Youngsters Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis each of 33 points to provide more offensive punch while Shayne Gostisbehere is taking advantage of the depth on Carolina’s blue line to focus his game on the side of the ice where he’s most effective and accordingly leads the Hurricanes D-men with 28 points (6 G, 22 a) in 38 games. Jaccob Slavin and Dmitry Orlov highlight the blue line, although it’s actually 39-year-old Brent Burns leading in average ice time at 21:28, which seems like a good way for Carolina to exit the postseason earlier than it hopes once again. But this is still a team that’s going to roll out four pretty good forward lines and three pretty good D pairings, which may not necessarily be enough to win games in April, May and June but would certainly seem like enough to pick up two points against Chicago in January.

The goaltending is the other big question mark for Carolina once again. We can still joke about Frederik Andersen never recovering from being broken by Jonathan Toews back in the 2015 Western Conference Final because he hasn’t really proven to be fixed since. He’s also been injured, having not skated since late October from a knee injury that him sidelined until his activation from injured reserve late last week. Pyotr Kochetkov has been serviceable in Andersen’s absence (17-9-2 record, .902 save percentage, 2.52 goals-against average) but hasn’t been quite good enough to suggest he’s locked down the No. 1 job for the rest of the season. What Carolina elects to do with their goaltending between now and the trade deadline could be quite the harbinger of its postseason fate, as the revolving door of goalie options over the last handful of seasons suggests they’ve never really had a true No. 1. And that revolving door includes the guy they’ll be going up against this evening.

Carolina hasn’t played since Friday night, when it beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 for the team’s third win in the last five games. Here’s the lineup from that game, although one possible change could be Andersen returning to the starting lineup to replace Kochetkov in net:

Svechnikov-Aho-Blake Robinson-Kotkaniemi-Necas Martinook-Staal-Jarvis Jaaska-Drury-Roslovic Slavin-Burns Orlov-Chatfield Gostisbehere-Walker Kochetkov

— Ryan Henkel (@ryanhenkel.bsky.social) January 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM

As for the Blackhawks, Saturday’s home win over VGK was yet another example of Chicago playing up to the quality of its opposition, a trend that would be welcome to continue with this high-ranking side as the opponent. One day the Blackhawks will learn to put in forth a similar level of play when teams closer to its own weight class are on the schedule, but that type of inconsistency was what’s known as a “bad NHL team,” which Chicago still very much is. There have been some more pleasant moments of late, though, with Connor Bedard continuing to pile up points and putting together some glimpses of offensive wizardry with recently added running mate Frank Nazar.

The only lineup change to note is down on the fourth line, where Pat Maroon is reportedly sidelined by a back injury, allowing Philipp Kurashev to return to game action. He’ll be skating on a fourth line with Taylor Hall and Ryan Donato, which seems like it should be more than the fourth line on this offensively challenged side but appears to be the fourth line nonetheless.

Don’t expect the Blackhawks to have much of the puck in this game, as the Hurricanes have consistently been puck-possession monsters during coach Rod Brind’Amour’s tenure. But the goaltending here isn’t so strong that a lower number of chances can’t result in a few goals for the home side. That’s probably what it’ll take to pick up a point or two from this one.

Let’s go Hawks.

Blackhawks — Statistic — Hurricanes
44.63% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 59.27% (1st)
44.19% (30th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 55.92% (1st)
2.59 (29th) — Goals per game — 3.3 (t-6th)
3.41 (30th) — Goals against per game — 2.76 (9th)
44.9% (30th) — Faceoffs — 52.6% (4th)
24.3% (9th) — Power play — 21.7% (15th)
82.7% (7th) — Penalty kill — 84.7% (2nd)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720

Talking Points