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Cause I’ll take anything: Blackhawks 6, Hurricanes 4

Posted on by Shepard Price

Thanks in large part to scoring three goals on the power play in the first period, the Blackhawks defeated the Hurricanes 6-4 on Thursday.

The Hurricanes started the scoring, though, as Sebastian Aho’s shot from the point found its way to the back of the net. It was Carolina’s second shot of the game, arriving just 1:15 into the game.

The Blackhawks scored about two minutes later as Mattias Janmark tallied on the power play for his 50th career goal:

The Blackhawks would break that 1-1 tie on their next power play, when Dominik Kubalik scored to make the game 2-1:

Then the Hurricanes would put two more in the box. The Blackhawks power play scored once more before the period was up on an Andrew Shaw goal with seven seconds left:

The first period ended with Chicago up 3-1, but the Hurricanes started the second with a Nino Niederreiter goal just 42 seconds into the frame. Andrei Svechnikov added another goal eight seconds later to tie the game at three.

Patrick Kane broke the tie early in the third period to make it a 4-3 game in favor of Chicago:

The Hurricanes tied the game about three minutes later when Brock McGinn scored. However, Alex DeBrincat jumped on a rebound to get the lead back for the Blackhawks with 7:38 left on the clock:

DeBrincat later added the empty-net goal to seal the Blackhawks’ 6-4 victory.

Notes

  • Kubalik has scored a point on every power-play goal that’s occurred while he’s been on the ice. Still. He had three points on the man advantage in this one: a goal and two assists. He is very quickly becoming the generator on the power play.
  • Speaking of Kubalik, the line of himself, Dylan Strome and DeBrincat played the most minutes of any Blackhawks line at 5-on-5 with 8:37. They had a 51.26 expected goal percentage.
  • Kane showed up well with four points, his first game with more than two points. He also got some defensive responsibility at the end of the game that resulted in DeBrincat’s empty-net goal.
  • The Blackhawks have to defend the crease better. Both of Carolina’s second period goals came from the high-danger area and Chicago allowed 15 chances throughout the game. Lankinen made eight saves from the high-danger area (on 11 shots).
  • The Hawks’ penalty kill was perfect, not allowing a goal despite three opportunities. They allowed four shots while taking one themselves.
  • Kevin Lankinen finished the game below a .900 save percentage for just the second time this season. It’s his first save percentage below .900 since his NHL debut. Chicago could see a different goaltender in one of the games against Dallas.
  • Brandon Hagel can’t hit the net. He frequently had breakaways, even while shorthanded, but just couldn’t seem to get a shot on goal. He finished the game with two but has yet to score a goal in the NHL.
  • Play Philipp Kurashev more. Despite getting an assist on the first goal of the night, Kurashev finished with 7:31, the lowest time among the Blackhawks. Yet he had the fourth-highest expected goals with .33.
  • This is just the second time this season the Blackhawks have scored (at least) five goals. The other was Jan. 24 against the Red Wings. /

Game Charts

Three stars

  1. Patrick Kane (CHI) — 1 goal, 3 assists
  2. Dominik Kubalik (CHI) — 1 goal, 2 assists
  3. Alex DeBrincat (CHI) — 2 goals

What’s next

The Blackhawks head to Dallas to face the Stars on Sunday for a 2 p.m. start.

Talking Points