Svechnikov goal gives Hurricanes 4-3 shootout win over Blackhawks
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour referred to a shootout as a “talent show” Tuesday.
If so, it helps to have a special talent like Andrei Svechnikov.
Svechnikov had a chance to end a shootout Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks. After goalie James Reimer had stopped three Chicago shooters, Svechnikov had the victory on his stick as the forward collected the puck and skated down the ice.
Blackhawks goalie Kevin Lankinen had given up a goal to Svechnikov off the rush early in the game but then stopped some Svechnikov forehand attempts later, making big saves. So what did Svechnikov do? Go back to the forehand and beat Lankinen for a 4-3 win at the United Center.
“I had tried the move and couldn’t score,” Svechnikov said on the postgame media call. “But I decided to do the same thing because the goalie knew I had tried it already a couple of times, and it was like he knew I wasn’t going to do that. It was a great shot for me.”
Call it reverse psychology, hockey style, but it worked.
“He’s game-changer for us every night and tonight was no different,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said.
Just like that, the Canes (6-1-0) had won their fourth straight game since their COVID-19 pause. They had won their second straight shootout. They also had won on a night when Brind’Amour said the four players returning to the lineup from the NHL COVID-19 protocol list were sluggish and that the sluggishness “bled” into the Canes’ game.
“Tonight was not a good night for us,” Brind’Amour said. “We’ll take the win for sure but we were not in sync. We were a little off for most of the game. We got kind of fortunate tonight.”
Reimer, who wasn’t sluggish, again was the winner in the shootout, as he was Sunday against the Dallas Stars. With goalie Petr Mrazek electing to have surgery for a hand injury -- a decision he announced Tuesday on his Instagram account -- the Canes must rely heavily on Reimer to give them consistently good play in net.
Reimer faced 33 shots Tuesday and in the shootout faced Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane and Dylan Strome. None could score, Kane approaching the net in slow motion, toe-dragging the puck, trying to out-wait Reimer.
Lankinen stopped Dougie Hamilton and Trocheck, who both scored in Sunday’s shootout. But not Svechnikov.
Staal had a pair of assists, setting up Svechnikov and then Warren Foegele for first-period goals for a 2-0 lead. But the Blackhawks (3-4-4) skated and attacked, using their quickness.
A power-play goal by Philipp Kurashev and then a score by Kane late in the first tied it 2-2. Vincent Trocheck’s third-period score gave the Canes a 3-2 lead, but the Blackhawks countered on a Strome goal.
Foegele was one of the players who had been placed in the COVID protocol and spent time in quarantine. Brind’Amour also had defenseman Jaccob Slavin, and forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Jordan Martinook back and playing.
The overtime was loosely played by both teams and Lankinen made stops on Teravainen and Sebastian Aho, a Finnish duel, in the final minute.
“Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly games,” Brind’Amour said. “Good teams find a way to win and that’s what we did tonight. We hung in there and then our big guys kind of took over.”
Second period recap
The second period had a lot of skating and a few very hard hits but no scoring and it’s 2-2 after two.
The Blackhawks, who tied the score 2-2 late in the first, have given the Canes problems with their quickness and puck-handling. But a hit on defenseman Brett Pesce by Chicago’s Carl Soderberg gave the game a harder edge.
Pesce was flattened at center ice. Staal and Svechnikov quickly answered, Svechnikov putting a shoulder into Soderberg later to knock the forward to the ice.
First period: Score tied 2-2
Svechnikov’s goal, his fifth of the season, came off the rush at 3:51 as Staal got off a strong, one-handed pass driving the net. Staal, who has a four-game point streak, repeated it later with Foegele, who was playing his first game since returning from the NHL COVID-19 protocol list.
Foegele’s score came after the forward made a defensive mistake, allowing defenseman Calvin de Haan to walk in on Reimer. Staal alertly poked the puck away.
The Blackhawks responded with a power-play goal after a holding penalty on Haydn Fleury. Kane then tied the score after a Canes turnover by Slavin, beating Reimer with a quick shot and score with 18 seconds left in the period.
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 7:40 PM.
