Hurricane Drunk: Hurricanes 3, Blackhawks 2

5 days ago  /  Second City Hockey

Despite a late goal by Connor Bedard, the Chicago Blackhawks couldn’t come back from being down 3-1 heading into the third period, falling 3-2 on the road to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.



The Hurricanes opened the scoring with 3:03 left first period with a shorthanded goal. Seth Jarvis started the play with a takeaway from Philipp Kurashev, then had a give-and-go with Juha Jaaska before scoring to put the Hurricanes up 1-0.



Short-handed goal for Carolina!Scored by Seth Jarvis with 03:03 remaining in the 1st period.Assisted by Juha Jaaska.Carolina: 1Chicago: 0#CHIvsCAR #RaiseUp #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/QMOmUzjPZi— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) January 31, 2025



The Blackhawks evened the score just a couple of minutes later, though. Ilya Mikeyev received a backhand pass from Nick Foligno and skated in alone to beat Pyotr Kochetkov low with a wrister, making it 1-1.



Chicago goal!Scored by Ilya Mikheyev with 01:22 remaining in the 1st period.Assisted by Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson.Carolina: 1Chicago: 1#CHIvsCAR #RaiseUp #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/mZtUZgcktC— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) January 31, 2025



Mikko Rantanten gave the Hurricanes back the lead five minutes into the second period. Jack Roslovic drew several Blackhawks players to him before dropping a pass back to Mikko Rantanen, who beat Arvid Soderblom five-hole.



Carolina goal!Scored by Mikko Rantanen with 15:08 remaining in the 2nd period.Carolina: 2Chicago: 1#CHIvsCAR #RaiseUp #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/cc2IlUIyBv— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) January 31, 2025



Jaccob Slavin extended the Hurricanes lead to 3-1 a minute later, knocking in the rebound created after Jackson Blake’s shot hit the crossbar. Blackhawks players lost the puck battle along the boards before Blake’s initial shot.



Carolina goal!Scored by Jaccob Slavin with 14:01 remaining in the 2nd period.Assisted by Jackson Blake and Juha Jaaska.Carolina: 3Chicago: 1#CHIvsCAR #RaiseUp #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/Lo4BK0FLZ8— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) January 31, 2025



Connor Bedard got the Blackhawks back within one with 13:31 remaining in the third period. A stretch pass from Seth Jones found a streaking Bedard coming up the right boards, and Bedard beat Kochetkov with a sneaky five-hole shot, cutting the Hurricanes’ lead to 3-2.



Chicago goal!Scored by Connor Bedard with 13:31 remaining in the 3rd period.Assisted by Seth Jones.Carolina: 3Chicago: 2#CHIvsCAR #RaiseUp #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/8QZzl7hCI3— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) January 31, 2025



Unfortunately, the Blackhawks wouldn’t be able to to finish a comeback, and 3-2 was the final score of the game.







Notes



Much like the last first period against the Hurricanes, the Blackhawks were dominated in terms of shot metrics — to an even more absurd degree. The Blackhawks were out-attempted 18-6, out-chanced 10-2, and had just 20 percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5. The one saving grace is the Blackhawks managed to keep the actual shots on goal low — just 5-2 — but one of those shots was a goal. The second period was a bit loose between both teams which kept the pace closer, but the Blackhawks made several more mistakes than the Hurricanes. There were quite a few mistakes in the first 40 minutes that saw the Blackhawks coughing up the puck a bit too easily under pressure or falling into deceptions by the Hurricanes to disrupt coverage.



The Blackhawks did have a pretty good response after the Hurricanes second goal, pushing back quicker and getting more chances in a span of 5-6 minutes than they did most of the rest of the game. They even finished positive in shot attempts (54.84 percent) and were even in terms of shots on goal (50 percent), though quality chances were still skewed against them (only 40.27 expected). The Blackhawks kept it more even through the first half of the third, with a little burst of pressure that resulted in the Bedard goal, before the Hurricanes shut them down like the elite team they are. The third ended pretty close but favoring the Hurricanes for shot attempts (12-10), shots on goal (5-6), and expected goals (0.53-0.43).



Overall, I didn’t mind this game from the Blackhawks. Yes, the Hurricanes were a force in the first 30 minutes or so, but the response when down was strong from the Blackhawks and the third was solid.



Jones spoke after the game about the Blackhawks needing to just shoot more. That is true, because 20 shots on goal isn’t great, but they also do need to be smart about their shooting. As analyst Mike Kelly points out, too many shots from the perimeter can lead to more harm than good in terms of possession. The Blackhawks won the last matchup against the Hurricanes despite Carolina having 48 shots on goal because less than half of those shots (22) were considered scoring chances. Tonight, the Hurricanes had only 27 shots on net, but just about 70 percent (19) were scoring chances. Three fewer chances between the games, but the Hurricanes were smarter about their shot choices and not allowing the Blackhawks to turn around with the puck likely made a difference between those two games.



Perimeter shots lead to a loss of possession far more often than a goal. Since the start of last season, it's little more than 50/50 for teams with 40 or more shots on net – win % 52.7 percent.— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) January 31, 2025



Again: yes, Jones is right that the Blackhawks do need to shoot more in general, but not without a plan, either. Jones has been getting points individually lately in part because his decision making with his shots has been much better — it’s been noted several times in the comment sections. Jones has also been very good with his passing and his transition game has looked worlds better than it was at the end of December and the start of this month. Tonight was no exception either, Jones looked good at both ends of the ice, for the most part, and he extended his point streak to seven games. He talked about how he’s been feeling and performing post game:




“I feel good. It starts with my breakouts and finding options there, putting guys in good spots. And then it goes to the neutral zone and my game works up from there. [I’m] trying to find plays offensively when I can, but it starts defensively, having a good stick all over the ice and keeping pucks out of my net.”




Seth Jones has been quietly excellent since the "infamous Calgary game," and he was great again tonight — even in a losing cause."It starts with my breakouts."Blackhawks postgame notebook from Raleigh: https://t.co/e8VN9ZwOWg— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 31, 2025



Soderblom’s numbers weren’t that great tonight, with just a .889 save percentage, but his game was fine overall. He made some big saves early when the Hurricanes were pouring it on, but he also probably wants that Rantanen goal back (caveat being obviously that Rantanen is a top-10 player in the league and three different Blackhawks puck watched to leave Rantanen wide open). Soderblom’s first period was good, second was a bit shakier, and the third was nice enough.



Big early save from Soderblom on Svechnikov sliding left to right pic.twitter.com/fdjifSIvDO— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 31, 2025



After a couple of solid games from Kurashev, tonight was a letdown. Two major mistakes, one of which was costly, and then being mostly invisible is just a turn away from how he had been playing as of late. He wasn’t the only one: Foligno, despite his point, was mediocre. Tyler Bertuzzi was ineffective. Frank Nazar had some major issues (gravity was his greatest opponent tonight, it seemed, but that turnover on the Rantanen goal was gross), and more.



The best line for the Blackhawks was unsurprisingly the one with Jason Dickinson. Outside of one bad game and a handful of quiet ones, Dickinson has consistently been one of the better play drivers on the team, even if it’s not resulting in a lot of points for him. When he, Teuvo Teravainen, and Ilya Mikheyev were on the ice together, the Blackhawks out-attempted (10-3) and outshot (5-2) the Hurricanes, and they owned 73.80 of the expected goals. Now, the quality of competition was on the low side — they faced Carolina’s third line with Jordan Staal more than anyone else — but the numbers are still impressive.



No other Blackhawks line was in the positive in terms of shot metrics, and as a result, there was a bit of line shuffling as the game went on. The two most noticeable were Landon Slaggert getting time with Bedard and Bertuzzi (5:49) in place of Nazar and Ryan Donato shifting with Lukas Reichel and Foligno (3:10). Also not surprising that Slaggert and Donato got rewarded with promotions: both play a high-effort, smart, but hard-nosed style that can help spark others and they were having good games when other players were lagging. It might have been more fun to see Slaggert with Bedard and Nazar, but Sorensen has been reluctant to put three kids together and Nazar wasn’t at his best to start this game (though neither was Bertuzzi).



Slaggert has been particularly effective at translating his strong forechecking ability from NCAA and AHL to the NHL this season.



Landon Slaggert's play has been exceptionalHe forces a turnover and almost scores shorthanded pic.twitter.com/7wiTBHF09g— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 31, 2025



And he’s always willing to drive to the net:



Nice move by Bedard but can't find Slaggert in front pic.twitter.com/9r9raoV3Wc— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 31, 2025



Speaking of Bedard, Jones was asked about Bedard seeming to “defer” this season instead of shooting more, and his answer is below. Again, Jones isn’t wrong in that we’d all prefer Bedard to be shooting instead of Bertuzzi, but the issue most of the season has been Bedard having little playmaking assistance on his line, so he’s had to perform that role himself. He has been shooting a lot more lately, and he had a solid four attempts (tied for third most on the team) and two on goal (tied for second most). Another answer that isn’t technically wrong but also there were a lot of other players that the “shoot more” advice should go to.



(This was not a criticism, to be clear. I asked him the question.)— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 31, 2025



Other young players like Alex Vlasic, Nolan Allan, and Reichel all had individually decent to good games. There are the types of players the Blackhawks can mold and use in the future potentially.



Alex Vlasic completely neutralizes a 1on1 break pic.twitter.com/rwIGWO5a0C— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 31, 2025



Nice hit by Nolan Allan on Svechnikov pic.twitter.com/EEacbM4uVu— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 31, 2025



Reichel's had 2 bursts this year over 22mph and I think this may be the 3rd https://t.co/GqcIxROt0t— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 31, 2025



There was no revenge game by Taylor Hall tonight: the recently traded former Blackhawks forward was sidelined with an illness — possibly the same one that kept Sebastian Aho out of the game as well — right before the game began.



Sebastian Aho and Taylor Hall will each miss tonight's game against Chicago due to illness.— Hurricanes PR (@CanesPR) January 30, 2025








Game Charts

























Three Stars




Mikko Rantanen (CAR) — 1 goal



Juha Jaaska (CAR) — 2 assists



Connor Bedard (CHI) — 1 goal










What’s Next



The Blackhawks are still on the road, heading to Florida Saturday for a Noon start against the Panthers.




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