A quick scoring burst across the first two periods carried the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night at United Center.
Mark Jankowski opened the scoring for Carolina with a wrist shot at 19:03 of the first period, assisted by Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Eric Robinson. Sebastian Aho widened the gap early in the second period, beating Spencer Knight with a shorthanded wrist shot at 2:09. Just 1:19 later, Jackson Blake scored his first goal of the season on a wrist shot set up by Logan Stankoven and Jordan Martinook to make it 3-0.
Roman Kantserov briefly trimmed the margin to 3-1 at 4:40 of the second period with an unassisted wrist shot for his first goal of the season. Carolina responded quickly, as Taylor Hall blasted a slap shot past Knight at 6:05 off feeds from Blake and Mike Reilly. Martinook added his first goal of the campaign on a third-period backhand at 5:00, before Chicago forward Oliver Moore closed the scoring at 14:14 with a wrist shot assisted by Wyatt Kaiser and Ryan Donato.
Brandon Bussi earned the win in net for Carolina, stopping 24 of 26 shots. Knight took the loss for Chicago, turning aside 34 of 39 shots as the Hurricanes held a 39-26 edge in shots on goal. Neither team converted with the man advantage, as both sides finished 0 for 2 on the power play.
The victory extended Carolina's winning streak to four games, pushing its record to 4-1-1 on the season. Chicago dropped to 1-5-0 and remains winless in two consecutive contests.
The Hurricanes will travel to visit the Calgary Flames on Sunday, October 18. Chicago remains at home to host the Montreal Canadiens on Friday, October 23.
