The Carolina Hurricanes extended their point streak to 15 games with a 3-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC, on Tuesday.
The Hurricanes are 13-0-2 in the run, tying the Toronto Maple Leafs (12-0-3) for the longest point streak in the NHL this season.
They also tied their franchise record with nine wins in a row, which has been accomplished four times, the most recent from Oct. 14-Nov. 3, 2021, and tied the Vegas Golden Knights for the second-longest this season behind the New Jersey Devils (13).
“Like we said this morning, you never really look behind, whether you’ve won 8-9 in a row or you lost eight,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s ‘What have you done for me lately?’ What’s important is right in front of you. Those are the kinds of things you probably look back on and reflect on. It doesn’t really matter much right now. It will probably mean more at the end of the year when we look back and [say]’That was a good stretch and got us to hopefully where we want to be.'”
Video: CHI@CAR: Martinook sends the loose puck home
Antti Raanta made 24 saves for his first shutout of the season and 16th in the NHL for the Hurricanes (23-6-6), who shut out the Blackhawks 3-0 Nov. 14 in Chicago.
“Obviously, there have been a few games this year where you felt you haven’t been able to make those key saves,” Raanta said. “And there have been too many goals where you’ve been like, ‘Oh, no, why did I do that?’ I think that comes with too much thinking and too much worrying about something now.
“The mentality today was you wanted to stay more in the moment, just worry about what’s going to happen next, not worry about what happened two minutes ago or what’s going to happen in five minutes. Big team win, and it’s always nice to keep the clean sheet.”
Petr Mrazek made an NHL career-high 46 saves for the Blackhawks (8-21-4), who have lost nine of 10.
“It’s a little frustrating not to get enough offense to give Petr some scoring support he needs,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “I think we’ve got to be cleaner. Most of those shots were in the first period. I don’t know if there’s much we could have done better than just be a little sharper with our breakouts with the puck in the first period. . I think that was pretty much the game right there.”
Video: Raanta saves all 24 shots on goal for shutout
Martin Necas made it 1-0 at 3:36 of the first period when he backhanded the rebound of a shot Brent Burns from the right point.
Jesper Fast made it 2-0 at 8:53 after a face-off win by Jordan Staal. Fast picked up the rebound in the right circle by a shot Brett Pesce and his pass to Staal in front deflected into the net off the skate of the Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy.
Carolina outshot Chicago 23-7 in the first period, the most shots it has had in a period this season, and 49-24 overall.
The Blackhawks opened the second period on a power play. They had a 5-on-3 advantage for 21 seconds when Fast was called for hooking at 1:20.
“I think we found our legs in the second period, and we were lucky that it was only 2-0,” Richardson said. “I think the power play that started the second, we had a pretty good chance or two; we just missed a back door low. [Max] Domi’s down-the-hatch shot, I think those were two pretty good chances 5-on-3, but the power play really didn’t generate much after that on the 5-on-4s. We just came in too slow, and they’re too good and strong with their sticks at the blue line, so that was kind of frustrating.”
Jordan Martinook increased the lead to 3-0 at 4:55 of the third period with a backhand off a scramble in front of the net.
“We tried to play fast, play in their end,” Necas said. “I think the first period was really good. Then in the second, we didn’t have much, but in the third, we were kind of back on track.”
Video: CHI@CAR: Necas gets a great bounce to score
Like Brind’Amour, Raanta said they are trying not to get too caught up in the winning streak.
“It’s a good confidence booster, but I don’t think we’re worrying too much about the streak,” he said.
NOTES: Necas scored his 15th goal of the season, one shy of matching his NHL career high set in 2019-20. … Fast (three goals, three assists) and Staal (three goals, five assists) each extended his point streak to five games. … Burns reached 20 assists for 13th time in the NHL, tying Drew Doughty and Kris Letang for the second-most among active players behind Ryan Suter (14). … Chicago has been shut out six times this season, including three times in the past 10 games.
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