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.
The Canes made it nine straight wins to start the season, one shy of the NHL record, with a 4-3 victory over the Blackhawks at the United Center.
Goalie Freddie 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 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.
Jesper Fast scored 17 seconds into the third period to tie the game 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.
The Blackhawks had used two goals by Alex DeBrincat and another by Patrick Kane to take 3-1 lead in the second period. But the Canes would turn to a rookie to start a comeback.
Forward Seth Jarvis, in his second NHL game, scored his first NHL goal — and it was a keeper. Jarvis got in front of defenseman Erik Gustafsson breaking in on the net and beat Fleury with a five-hole shot.
Mark it down: Jarvis, 12:50 of the second period, even strength, first goal. And against the 2021 Vezina Trophy winner and a future Hall of Famer.
“High-level talent and a high-level goal,” Derek Stepan said of Jarvis.
The Canes’ fourth line supplied Carolina’s first two goals as Stepan scored in the first period. Stepan assisted on the Jarvis goal and almost scored again in the first after a between-the-legs pass from Jarvis.
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 as Fleury failed to seal the post.
DeBrincat continued to torment the Canes with his 12th and 13th career goals against Carolina.
On the first, Svechnikov misjudged a flipped pass and failed to knock down the puck in the neutral zone. DeBrincat was alone, quickly splitting defensemen Ethan Bear and Jacob Slavin to beat Andersen.
On the second, the Blackhawks’ Mike Hardman blocked a shot by defenseman Brady Skjei, then stripped the puck from Skeji at the Carolina blue line. Philipp Kurashev collected the puck and found DeBrincat cruising in for the score.
The two DeBrincat goals were sandwiched around Kane’s fourth in two games since returning from COVID-19 protocol.
Svechnikov was called for hooking in the first, but made up for it soon after the Canes killed it off and then tied the score 1-1. His pass off the wall found Tony DeAngelo in the slot and DeAngelo’s near-whiff of a shot got the puck to Stepan open for his second goal in as many games.
The Canes ripped the Blackhawks 6-3 last week at PNC Arena as Chicago fell to 0-7-2. But Kane returned from COVID-19 protocol for the Hawks’ game Monday against Ottawa, energizing his team with a hat trick and four-point night.
“It’s a big change when you’re throwing in probably one of the best players in the game and all of a sudden gets added to their lineup,” Brind’Amour said of Kane before Wednesday’s game. “That changes everything for me. It doesn’t change how we have to approach the game, certainly, but you’ve got to have an awareness of 88. He’s as dynamic as they come.
“You saw it the other night when they put him in the lineup. It’s a different game. DeBrincat’s the same category for me. They’re game-changers.”
But the Canes also have a few, including a rookie.
