So far, so good for the Carolina Hurricanes coming out of the NHL’s Christmas break.
Following their Boxing Day victory over the New Jersey Devils at PNC Arena, the Canes went into the United Center in Chicago Sunday night and beat the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1 for the team’s first victory in the Windy City since 2008.
A goal from defenseman Justin Faulk with less than a minute to go in the second period and one from Victor Rask about five minutes into the third gave the Hurricanes (15-16-5) their second victory in as many nights. Eddie Lack was excellent in net for Carolina tonight, stopping 35 of 36 shots and making several big saves to stymie the Blackhawks (20-13-4).
No save was bigger than Lack’s stop on Jonathan Toews about halfway through the second period as the Hawks’ captain took a pass by Marian Hossa from the right circle, skated across the crease and attempted to roof a backhand into the yawning upper half of the net, only to have the Swedish netminder find a way to bat the shot away with his glove.
The game was scoreless for most of the first two periods, with both Lack and Blackhawks starter Corey Crawford coming up with several key saves. It appeared the game would be deadlocked at zero after 40 minutes, but Faulk had other ideas.
Following a strong shift from Chicago in the Canes zone, Jeff Skinner carried the puck over the blueline and made a perfect drop pass to Faulk, who zipped a wrist shot past Crawford to give the Canes a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.
After Faulk scored his first 12 goals of the season on the powerplay, Carolina’s leading scorer now has even-strength goals in back-to-back games for 14 on the season, one back of the career-high 15 he scored last season.
The Canes came into the third period eager to extend their lead, and about five minutes in, Rask delivered. The young Swedish center took a pass from the corner from Skinner, who had two assists on the night and fired a laser of a shot from the top of the faceoff circle through a Phil Di Giuseppe screen and past Crawford. Rask now has 10 goals on the season, and he is also one off his career-high of 11, set as an NHL rookie last season.
Chicago had several other good chances throughout the period, but Lack and the Canes’ defense were able to hold off their attack.
Faulk, who in addition to scoring had five hits and five blocked shots on the night, bailed out Carolina late in the period by getting his stick on a shot aimed at an open net from Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook.
Lack was finally beaten by Chicago with three seconds left in the game, ending a bid for his first shutout as a Hurricane.
While he did not hang onto the shutout, both Lack and his team will be content with the win, and the Hurricanes’ backup is now 3-0-1 in his past four starts.
