The Carolina Hurricanes are aiming to make it four wins in a row as they continue to bounce back brilliantly from a pair of season-opening defeats with a showdown against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
After drubbing the Vancouver Canucks by a 7-2 margin on home ice Thursday, the Hurricanes will get a crack at another one of the lower-tier teams in the Western Conference.
The Blackhawks had their sights set on making real progress toward being competitive in their rebuild this season, as general
manager Kyle Davidson made a splash in landing defenseman Bowen Byram in a sign-and-trade. But an offseason injury has held 2023 No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard out for the first portion of the year, and Chicago has instead gotten off to a 1-4-0 spot that has them in the familiar spot of being last in the Central Division.
The Blackhawks are coming off of a 4-1 loss on Long Island on Thursday, and they’re led in points by the skilled young Swedish forward Anton Frondell, with four.
On the Canes’ side of things, the top guns are really humming right now. Sebastian Aho is up to eight points in five games, and Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake are both over or at a point-per-game pace. Logan Stankoven’s four goals in five games aren’t too shabby, either.
In the last five seasons, Carolina owns a 9-0-1 record against the Blackhawks, who have not notched a regulation victory over the Hurricanes since the two teams were in the same division during the re-worked, pandemic-shortened 2021 regular season, when the two sides squared off eight times.
It will most likely be Brandon Bussi between the pipes for Rod Brind’Amour after Pyotr Kochetkov picked up the win against the Canucks.
Saturday is the first half of a back-to-back for Carolina, so it’s a virtual certainty that the goalie that doesn’t go tonight will get the nod in Philadelphia on Sunday.
Here’s how to check out the action…
Time: 7 PM Eastern
Location: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
TV: Hurricanes Hockey Network. Hanna Yates and Shane Willis handle the pregame duties at 6:30, and then Mike Maniscalco handles play-by-play with Tripp Tracy providing color—we’re still waiting for the NHL and DirectTV to work out whatever it is holding up them getting this channel on there.
Streaming Video: Hurricanes Hockey Network on Prime Video in the Hurricanes Footprint. Outside you’ll need to use the ESPN app and have at least an ESPN Select subscription, which comes with ESPN Ultimate.
Radio: The pregame Storm Watch with Adam Gold on 99.9 The Fan starts at 6:30 PM, At 7 PM the Hurricanes Radio Network (consisting of 99.9, 730 The Game in Charlotte, ESPN New Bern 107.5/1490, and ESPN Greenville 107.5/1570) will pick up the Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy HHN simulcast.
Lines: (Per FanDuel) Hurricanes -255, -1.5 (+100) /Blackhawks +205, +1.5 (-122). O/U 5.5 -132/+108
