Blackhawks rally late in regulation, beat Hurricanes in overtime
The Carolina Hurricanes played their last home game of the regular season Thursday.
They’ll soon be back, and for much bigger games.
The Canes closed out their home schedule in this condensed season, facing the Chicago Blackhawks for the third time this week. For the first time this week, the Blackhawks won, getting an overtime goal from Alex DeBrincat for a 2-1 victory.
Defenseman Riley Stillman tied the score 1-1 for the Blackhawks with 3:01 left in regulation with his first NHL goal. Pius Suter turned near the left point and wristed a long-distance shot that Stillman tipped in the slot to beat goalie Petr Mrazek.
DeBrincat then whistled a shot from the slot past Vincent Trocheck and Mrazek at 2:02 of overtime, his 29th of the season, to end the Canes’ five-game winning streak. Goalie Collin Delia had 36 saves for Chicago, which ended a six-game winless streak.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour was left disgusted, not so much for losing a game as in the way the game was lost. He used the word “crap” in describing his team’s execution, but did agree that the “big picture” — a 20-3-5 home record, nine of 10 points in the last homestand and a 13-game point streak — was a huge positive.
“I appreciate that thought because I need that right about now,” Brind’Amour said.
The Canes (36-10-8) will go to Nashville to end the regular season with a pair of road games against the Predators. It’s possible the two teams could meet up in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, with the first game at PNC Arena, but first things first — the Canes want to win the Central Division and also the Presidents’ Trophy for most points in the NHL.
Martin Necas gave the Canes a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded breakaway in the first period, and on a weird play that ended the night for Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith.
Keith, at the left point, was trying to control the puck but stumbled and fell into the linesman near the blue line, his head hitting the linesman’s knee. Necas, ever speedy, took off with the loose puck and beat Delia with a backhander at 9:49 of the first.
For Necas, who has scored in three straight games, it was his 14th of the season. It also was the second shorthanded goal in as many games for the winger, who had a late empty-netter against Chicago on Tuesday in a 6-3 win.
But the Canes allowed too many odd-man rushes Thursday. They allowed the Blackhawks to easily fly the zone and keep the pressure on Mrazek, who faced 27 shots in his second game back after returning from a lower-body injury.
“Today we just weren’t good enough,” Necas said. “We gave up so many chances against, and that just can’t happen. (Mrazek) made some big saves. We didn’t help him enough. We gave up too many Grade-A’s.
“We have to figure it out in the last two games. There’s no way we can play like that in the playoffs.”
Brind’Amour said Mrazek was the Canes’ “best player for sure” and was “great.”
One of Mrazek’s biggest stops came just as the second period was ending when he stopped Patrick Kane on a partial breakaway. DeBrincat had a breakaway earlier in the second but couldn’t control the puck and didn’t get much on his shot.
“The first two periods, giving up breakaways, two-on-ones, breakaways, no coverage, it was just sloppy all over,” Brind’Amour said. “Trading chances. Of course, they were going for it and we were happy to give them one to get one. That doesn’t work.
“Yeah, we got a point out of it. But we got beat tonight, for sure.”
The Canes had their chances to add to the 1-0 lead in the third. Steven Lorentz was wide on a shot with an open net, and Nino Niederreiter was denied by a scrambling Delia, who won for the first time since Februrary 2019.
Those misses were costly. Stillman, the son of former Canes forward Cory Stillman, then tied it for the Hawks (23-25-6). That had to be a thrill for a player who was 8 years old when his father and the Canes won the 2006 Stanley Cup.
“Sometimes games like that happen and today was the one,” Mrazek said.
Keith left the game and did not return for Chicago. Forward Brett Connolly was injured in the third after an open-ice collision with Lorentz. Both suffered concussions, Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said.
Injury update
Canes forward Jordan Martinook participated in Thursday’s morning skate at PNC Arena. Martinook has not played since April 22 against Florida, missing seven games, and will not play Thursday, Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
Injured forwards Brock McGinn and Cedric Paquette continue to be sidelined.
“I’d like to have all those guys in the lineup,” Brind’Amour said. “Unfortunately, it is what it is right now and they’re not able to play. Martinook, we’d love to see him get in here maybe the next game or certainly the last one. They’re nursing some things and hopefully we’ll get them in.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 6:38 PM.
