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RECAP: Chicago falls 4–3 to Carolina in overtime

  
RECAP: Chicago falls 4–3 to Carolina in overtime
The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4–3 in overtime at the United Center on Monday night. (Photo courtesy of Lukes Hales / Getty Images)

After the Chicago Blackhawks (15–28–4) skated away with the 5–3 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights two nights earlier, the home team looked to jump on the Carolina Hurricanes (28–16–3) early and send the Hurricanes packing and led 2–0 after the first period of action, but late mistakes and missed opportunities lead to the 4–3 loss in overtime, as forward Sebastian Aho scored 59 seconds into the extra time.

Petr Mrazek stopped 44 shots in the losing effort and forwards Philipp Kurashev and Ryan Donato each had a goal and an assist.

“He was awesome,” Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall said of Mrazek. “He’s been really good for a huge portion of this season. He works hard and he’s always positive. He’s a very good teammate. That would’ve been a nice win to get for him, especially playing his former team.”

First period

Chicago opened the scoring when Kurashev fired a shot past Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen, who played in his 500th NHL game last night. Donato did a nice job working through a check and found a sliding Kurashev on one knee for the nice tap-in for the early 1–0 lead.

At the 16:55 mark, Tyler Bertuzzi scored his 17th goal of the season as the crafty forward banked a Seth Jones shot off the back of Andersen and into the net for a 2–0 lead. The goal, assisted by Jones and Frank Nazar, looked to give the Blackhawks momentum going into the first intermission but that momentum was short-lived.

Second period

Carolina scored at the 1:25 mark of the middle frame, giving the Blackhawk faithful the “here we go again” feeling. Forward Seth Jarvis scored shorthanded for his 16th goal of the season to cut the Chicago lead to 2–1. The visiting Hurricanes would tie the score six minutes later when forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his seventh goal this season.

The always hard-working Donato scored at the 19:41 mark for his 14th goal to give the Blackhawks a 3–2 lead after two periods of play. The goal was assisted by Hall and Kurashev.


Carolina outshot the Blackhawks 13–6 but the overall play was dominated by the Hurricanes for much of this frame and the next period, as well.

Third period

Carolina came out buzzing and finally tied the score at 3–3 when Jordan Staal beat Mrazek for his 10th marker of the season at the 13:37 mark of the period. The goal, assisted by Jordan Martinook and Dmitry Orlov, was the only puck to find the back of the net on Mrazek in a period in which the Hurricanes outshot the Blackhawks 19–7.

Overtime

Chicago earned a point, which is not bad for this team, but blew the two-goal lead on the first shot of the extra frame when Aho fired home a slap shot past Mrazek for the 4–3 comeback victory.

Chicago has three days to rest up before the Tampa Bay Lightning (25-–17–3) come skating into town on Friday for a 7 p.m. CST puck drop at the United Center.

Analysis

Surrendering a two-goal lead and retaking the lead at 3–2 was an ideal situation for a team that was outshot 54–36 in attempts and 22–13 in scoring chances. Anyone watching the game knew that the Blackhawks were thanking their lucky stars for the lead and felt the Hurricanes were going to take the lead as some point in the game. Someday fans will get to a point where these losing expectations are gone, but we are a long way from that right now.

Mrazek was great in net. Playing against his former team and riding a roller coaster of a season personally, he kept the Blackhawks in the game, especially as the defense chased the puck most of the last 40 minutes and were outplayed drastically in all three zones.

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