RALEIGH, N.C. — Whatever bug is running through the Carolina Hurricanes locker room, it took some of the sizzle out of their 3-2 home victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
No Sebastian Ano and no ex-Hawk Taylor Hall. The latter was a late scratch.
Chicago Wolves forward Ryan Suzuki made his NHL debut for the short-handed Hurricanes, who played 11 forwards and six defensemen.
And speaking of short-handed, the Hawks gave up a short-handed goal to Seth Jarvis before they even registered a shot on goal themselves. They’ve allowed three shorties in the last eight games.
But if things ever work out for the Hawks, they work out strangely.
Later in the power play, Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov went behind the net and dangerously dished the puck up the middle of the ice. Colton Dach batted it down and fired the Hawks’ first shot on goal, but Kochetkov somehow flung himself in the path in time to stop it.
But 1 minute, 29 seconds later, Ilya Mikheyev scored on a mini breakaway set up by Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson with 1:22 left in the first period.
The Hawks then found themselves in a hole again early in the second. Newcomer Mikko Rantanen scored his first goal as a Hurricane, followed by Jaccob Slavin 1:07 later.
After a punchless second period, the Hawks mounted a modest rally in the third. Connor Bedard scored for the second straight game and extended his point streak to four games.
It got chaotic at the end with the Hawks going six-on-five and then trading penalties with the Hurricanes, but their efforts came up short.
The Hawks undermined themselves with a sluggish start, failing to put a shot on net until 2:51 remained in the first period.
“It just goes to show you can have all the possession you want,” Ryan Donato said. “If you’re not shooting it, you’re not going to score. So we’ve just got to shoot more.”
The lack of shooting took on greater weight in another close loss to the Hurricanes, who beat the Hawks 4-3 in overtime Jan. 20 at the United Center.
“We did a lot of good things except that spurt of a couple minutes there in the second that hurt us,” Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “We battled really hard in the third, created some opportunities. The result wasn’t there, but there were definitely some positive things.”
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
1. Long story short-handed, the Hawks have to clean up their power-play discipline.
It’s one thing to give up a short-handed goal to the Hurricanes for the second time in as many games, but to the same player?
Jarvis not only opened the scoring in the first period Thursday, but also scored a shorty Jan. 20 to kick off a rally in the Hurricanes’ overtime win. Those are two of the three the Hawks have coughed up in the last eight games.
It may be coincidental, but the Hawks have allowed five shorties under Sorensen and gave up just one under Luke Richardson.
Sorensen explained what happened against the Hurricanes .
“We had turnovers inside the blue line on two against Carolina,” he said. “They hold the line well and then they countered quickly on both of those.”
Defenseman Seth Jones credited the Hurricanes’ top-ranked penalty kill (86%).
“This penalty kill is probably one of the best we’ve seen this year,” he said. “They’re super aggressive. On our breakouts, they hold the line well, their sticks are excellent.
“I’m not sure if we’re coming up with enough speed on our drop, but they make you make some pretty perfect plays to get shots on net and get chances, and we couldn’t execute them.”
2. Connor Bedard has 19 points in his last 18 games.
That 12-game goal drought earlier this season seems like a distant memory. Since Dec. 21 in Calgary, Bedard has eight goals and 11 assists.
His 15th goal of the season came on Jones’ stretch pass.
“I saw him stretching and so I looked, I shoulder-checked before I got the puck and honestly just tried to rip it up the boards to him,” said Jones, who’s riding a seven-game point streak with two goals and eight assists. “I saw he had body position on the defenseman, I think, so when he gets the puck there, it’s usually in the net.”
Bedard looks more proficient lately at getting open looks.
“Maybe opportunistic?” Jones said. “He’s always had a very good knack of finding offensive spots and soft areas to get the puck. And then when he does get it on the rush, he’s great at making plays.
“That’s where he excels, when there’s open ice and he’s on the rush and making guys come to him and dishing it off or just beating goalies clean. When he gets in those positions, he’s super dangerous and we want him in those positions a lot more.”
3. Shot outages have become too much of a regular thing.
It was earlier this week that the Hawks posted one shot apiece in consecutive periods across two games.
They had a meager three in the first period Thursday, and the first didn’t come until 17:09 in on Dach’s power-play wrister.
“First 15 minutes of the game, I don’t know if we had a shot, did we?” Jones said. “When we get over the blue line, we’ve just got to start putting pucks to the net and not look for the perfect play.
“Especially against this team. We could probably take a page out of their book. They usually end games with 70-80 shot attempts and 40 shots on net.”
Sorensen said: “They blocked a bunch and pressured our shots. But I thought after that, we did a lot (of) good things, got pucks to the net more. They’re a good defensive team. They suffocate you all over the ice.”
The Hawks had two misses, two shots blocked and seven giveaways while under constant pressure.
“Sometimes when you have a guy in your lane, you’re kind of worried about getting it blocked, having it go the other way,” Donato said. “But like I said, it’s never going to be the perfect shot or the perfect opportunity unless you have a breakaway or a two-on-one, and that doesn’t happen very often.
“So it’s got to be a second rebound or a second chance. You get off of a shot that goes through somebody. And it’s easier said than done, for sure, but that’s something we’ve got to learn.”
