*Photo from Canes Country*
The storm surge has now made its mark on the Windy City. Jordan Staal scored, Jordan Martinook added a two point game, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Chicago Blackhawks with a 3-0 shutout victory on Monday night in Chicago.
Carolina now has victories in 6 of their last 10 games, improving to 10-5-1 on the season. Martinook was at the top of the scoresheet for the Hurricanes with a goal and an assist, including a helper on captain Staal's goal. Staal also ended the game with a goal and a helper.
Staal said of his goal that "Burnsie's obviously a shooter, but I gave him such a bad pass that he couldn't shoot it, so he gave it back to me reluctantly. I got a little opening there, and obviously a seeing-eye with Jesper doing a great job screening, and fortunate enough to get in."
In the first period, Martinook provided the Hurricanes with some early action. He scored his 4th goal of the season 9:45 into the game, making it a 1-0 score with Staal and Brent Burns chipping in with assists. Staal added his 4th goal of the season to double the lead to 2-0, assisted by Martinook and Burns at the 16:49 mark of the first.
After a slow start to the second period, Andrei Svechnikov provided a little spark to the middle frame. He scored 14:07 into the period, giving the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead on his 12th goal of the season, with Jesper Fast getting the assist. No other goals were scored, giving the Hurricanes a 3-0 shutout win on the road.
Getting the start in net for the Hurricanes was Pyotr Kochetkov, who picked up his first career NHL shutout in his 4th career start. Kochetkov stopped all 27 shots that came his way, improving his record to 2-0-0 on the season after being called up from the AHL.
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Kochetkov that "He really kept us, I don't want to say in the game. We didn't have to panic. A real huge performance by him. He was dialed in. They had a lot of good looks. You can kind of tell with a goalie, he was already there, even with a couple of backdoor plays. He was solid. You've got to give him a lot of credit. I don't think we were great after the first little while, but we were good enough, and he was great."
On the other side of the ice, it was Petr Mrazek in goal for the Blackhawks. Mrazek took the loss, saving 29 out of 32 shots on goal from the Hurricanes, posting a .906 save percentage as his record fell to 1-2-1 this season.
Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said that "It's frustrating because I thought we played OK in the first, and we're getting used to a team that pressures like that. We haven't really had that lately. We have to get accustomed to that. We have 'D' playing more minutes now than maybe they're used to playing, and they're put under the gun even more against a good skating, strong team. I thought we weathered that storm pretty good in the first period and played OK."
Up next, the Blackhawks are back in action on Wednesday night for a home tilt against the St. Louis Blues, with Mrazek the probable starter. Antti Raanta will likely start for the Hurricanes when they face the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
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