The Carolina Hurricanes will look to extend their winning streak to four games on Thursday night when they welcome the Chicago Blackhawks to the Lenovo Center.
The Canes are coming off a wildly impressive
three-games-in-four-days stretch that saw them pick off Florida, New Jersey and Buffalo in strong fashion.
Carolina got two days off after a matinee win on Martin Luther King Jr. Day against the Sabres to recharge the batteries and get ready for this one, and they’ll need to be on their game as the Blackhawks come in in the middle of a fight to make the postseason.
Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrei Svechnikov have really gotten their offensive games going, and the threats they present to opposing defenses combined with the return of Jaccob Slavin has Carolina playing its best hockey of the season.
After a hot start, Chicago fell hard outside the playoff picture after Connor Bedard suffered an upper-body injury. The low point was a six-game losing streak that ran from December 12 to December 23 with all six losses coming in regulation.
The Blackhawks have steadied things a bit, going 6-4-0 in their last 10 to get back into the fight in a hotly-contested Western Conference wild card race.
Despite having missed over a dozen games this season, Bedard still leads the Blackhawks in points by a wide margin with 48 on 20 goals and 28 assists. A breakout season fueled by a 22.4% shooting percentage from Tyler Bertuzzi has him leading the team with 24 goals.
Chicago is getting a boost to its lineup tonight, as center Frank Nazar will reportedly return to the lineup after an extended absence due to injury.
The Hurricanes announced Wednesday that there would be no morning skate ahead of Thursday’s game and that head coach Rod Brind’Amour would be available to the media a few hours prior to puck drop.
Here’s how to check out the action:
Time: 7:00 PM
TV: ESPN+
Streaming: ESPN+/Hulu
Radio: 99.9 The Fan
Odds: Hurricanes -196 Moneyline, Hurricanes -1.5 at +120
