Still perfect! Seth Jarvis gets first goal as Hurricanes beat Blackhawks to move to 9-0
The Carolina Hurricanes are still undefeated, still the only unbeaten team in the NHL.
But it took a comeback to fight past the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. It took grit, and timely scores, and relentless penalty killing. And big goal from a rookie, Seth Jarvis.
The Canes made it nine straight wins to start the season, one shy of tying the NHL record, with a 4-3 victory over the Blackhawks at the United Center.
“Throughout a season you’ve got to be able to win in a lot of different ways, and tonight was a different way to win a hockey game,” said Canes center Derek Stepan, who had a goal and assist in being named the game’s first star.
Goalie Frederik Andersen was a winner for the eighth time this season, making 27 saves, and the Canes had to kill off a double-minor high-sticking penalty on defenseman Ethan Bear late in regulation to nail down the victory. The Canes were missing defenseman Brett Pesce, who missed the third period with an injury, but got the hard work done.
“You’ve got to kill ‘em when you get in those situations and that was the difference in the game,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “The guys dug in, that’s all I can tell you. It was a great effort at the end.”
The Blackhawks (1-8-2), coming off their first win of the season, pulled goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for a sixth attacker on the late power play. But Andersen stood firm in net, making 12 saves in the third, including two on Patrick Kane in the final minute of regulation.
Jesper Fast scored 17 seconds into the third period to tie the score at 3-3 and Martin Necas buried a shot at 3:26 as the Canes, with a strong push, jumped ahead early in the final period -- Necas’ goal proved to be the winner..
“It was a good response for sure,” Brind’Amour said. “We knew coming in it would be a tough one.”
The Blackhawks had used two goals by Alex DeBrincat and another by Kane to take 3-1 lead in the second period. But the Canes would turn to a rookie to start a comeback.
Jarvis, in his second NHL game, scored his first NHL goal — and what a keepsake. Jarvis got in front of defenseman Erik Gustafsson breaking in on the net and beat Fleury with a five-hole shot.
“High-level talent and a high-level goal,” Stepan said of Jarvis, who had an assist Sunday in his NHL debut and nearly scored.
Mark it down: Jarvis, 12:50 of the second period, even strength, first goal. And against Fleury, the 2021 Vezina Trophy winner and a future Hall of Famer.
“Super excited,” Jarvis said of his emotions. “It’s nice to get one, especially against Marc-Andre Fleury. I grew up watching him and idolizing him, so to get one against him means a little bit more.”
The Canes’ fourth line supplied Carolina’s first two goals as Stepan scored in the first period. Then Jarvis, who also had a dazzling between-the-legs pass that set up Stepan for another chance.
“They were solid the whole game,” Brind’Amour said. “And it was great to see ‘Jarvy’ get that one.”
Andrei Svechnikov had a pair of assists for the Canes, setting up the Fast goal in the third. Necas scored from the right circle off a Sebastian Aho pass, beating Fleury to the short side.
The Canes killed off eight penalty minutes in the third as Chicago finished 0-5 on the power play for the game.
“That’s way too much to give that team,” Brind’Amour said. “But Freddie was good, we made some huge blocks.”
DeBrincat continued to torment the Canes with his 12th and 13th career goals against Carolina. Kane, coming off a hat trick on Monday against Ottawa, redirected a shot for a goal.
The Canes killed off a Svechnikov penalty in the first and tied the score 1-1. Svechnikov’s pass off the wall found Tony DeAngelo in the slot and DeAngelo got the puck to an open Stepan for his second goal.
The Canes ripped the Blackhawks 6-3 last week at PNC Arena as Chicago fell to 0-7-2. But Kane returned to energize his team and the Blackhawks had Fleury in net for Wednesday’s game.
“Maybe we didn’t have our A stuff for half the game (but) give the Blackhawks credit, they were playing hard,” Stepan said. “I thought we were maybe not as sharp as we wanted to be but we came out and competed really hard in the third period and scored two big goals, and then the biggest part of the game is the four-minute (penalty) kill with five minutes left. Those killers did a fantastic job.”
The Canes next go to Florida for a game Saturday against the Panthers, who had an 8-0 start before a shootout loss against the Boston Bruins..
Longest winning streak to start NHL season
10 -- Toronto Maple Leafs 1993-94
10 -- Buffalo Sabres 2006-07
9 -- Montreal Canadiens 2015-16
9 -- Carolina Hurricanes 2021-22
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 11:13 PM.
