The Carolina Hurricanes started the season with some bumpy games, but since their loss on October 2nd, they haven’t lost again – now riding a four-game winning streak.
Their latest win came against the Chicago Blackhawks – who remain without their Captain, Connor Bedard, due to recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. By the end of the night, Carolina took the win 5-2, but that isn’t too say it was an ‘easy peasy victory’, as Chicago had a big push towards the end – outshooting Carolina in the final frame 13-9.
Hurricanes lines tonight: projected lineup and starting goalie →
The Hurricanes’ first goal came from Mark Jankowski, who extended his goal streak to three games – claiming the lead in the final minute of the first period.
Early in the second frame, while on the penalty kill, K’Andre Miller linked up with Sebastian Aho as they embarked on the rush, with Aho scoring a shorthanded goal (the second-straight game to feature a shorty).
Just a minute and some change later, Jackson Blake got his first goal of the season, giving Carolina a 3-0 lead.
Wildly, in almost the exact amount of time between Aho and Blake’s goal, Chicago scored following Blake’s goal – Roman Kantserov getting the first goal (and point) of his NHL career.
Then, once again – wildly – in nearly the exact amount of time between the other goals, Taylor Hall scored to further the distance between the Hurricanes and Blackhawks. (As the local Canes clipper, I think you can imagine how rushed I was trying to upload that footage in a timely fashion…whew.)
Anyway, Jordan Martinook scored in the third period, as did Oliver Moore.
Brandon Bussi played a fine game, showing that spark he is known for that we’d only really seen flashes of this season up until this point – stopping 24 of 26 shots with calm precision. It was a really good game for him.
I hate to cut the recap short with minimal analysis, but such is the way things are – it’s the first half of a back-to-back so this one is more casual to accommodate the time to prepare the Hurricanes-Flyers preview for the morning! Keep an eye out for it!
In the meantime, definitely check out the postgame analysis from my colleague, Jack Bushman, over at Chicago Hockey Now! Sneak behind those enemy lines, y’all!
Rachel Barkley is a beat writer covering the Carolina Hurricanes for Carolina Hockey Now on Sportsnaut. Painting stories with … More about Rachel Barkley