To begin their season-ending road trip, the Metropolitan Division-champion Carolina Hurricanes took the ice in Chicago on Thursday night, looking to keep their positive momentum heading into the postseason. The group won the division in a wild affair on Tuesday at the Lenovo Center, beating the Boston Bruins, 6-5 in overtime, on Jaccob Slavin's first goal of the season.
The Canes rested a lot of players tonight. The entire top line, the top defensive pair, and the rest of the leadership group had the night off. This brought Bradly Nadeau, Charles Alexis Legault, Eric Robinson, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Mike Reilly back into the lineup, while Skyler Brind'Amour made his season debut, and Josiah Slavin made his Hurricanes debut. Frederik Andersen was in the net.
Jalen Chatfield (undisclosed), Jaccob Slavin (undisclosed), Jordan Staal (undisclosed), Jordan Martinook (undisclosed), Seth Jarvis (undisclosed), Sebastian Aho (undisclosed), and Andrei Svechnikov (undisclosed) will miss tonight’s game against the Blackhawks.
— Hurricanes PR (@CanesPR) April 10, 2026
Regardless of who was in the lineup, Sean Walker came ready to play. Just 19 seconds into the game, Walker put one into the top corner to break the ice. Anton Frondell got it back for the Blackhawks midway through the frame. Skyler Brind'Amour appeared to score a goal, but it was waived off for goalie interference. Instead, Logan Stankoven scored five seconds later, giving the Canes a 2-1 lead.
The Canes kept it rolling in the second period. As he has done plenty of times recently, Stankoven added another goal early in the frame. Excellent work by his entire line allowed the center to put home a rebound. Late in the period, Alexander Nikishin's wrister was tipped over Spencer Knight's glove by Mark Jankowski, extending the lead to three after 40 minutes.
The third period rounded out an excellent performance. K'Andre Miller ballooned the lead to four after coming out of the box. Once again, Frondell scored 22 seconds later for his second of the night, but Taylor Hall responded with one against his former team two minutes later. Jankowski rounded out the scoring, sniping his second of the game to complete a dominant 7-2 win in the first stop of the trip.
Even without their top line, the offense came pouring out in Chicago
We can talk about Chicago being where they are in the standings, but it doesn't take away from how well the Hurricanes played tonight with a different lineup. Sean Walker set the tone 19 seconds in, and this galvanized the group to play an incredible game. There were 11 Hurricanes on the scoresheet tonight, including four players with multi-point efforts.
For the first time as a Hurricane, Logan Stankoven recorded three points, including his sixth and seventh goals in his last six games, to get him over 20 goals. Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist, and Jackson Blake had a helper. William Carrier recorded the first three-point game of his career, Mark Jankowski scored twice, and Nicolas Deslauriers added his first point since the trade.
The call-ups served their roles very well
For all of the Canes' offense tonight, it's a little impressive that none of the Chicago Wolves in the lineup recorded a point. However, that doesn't mean that they didn't play well. Their contributions were noticeable. Bradly Nadeau laid four hits. Skyler Brind'Amour won 80 percent of his draws, and his line with Josiah Slavin and Eric Robinson was solid. Charles Alexis Legault played almost 17 minutes.
No one place was their contribution greater than on the penalty kill. All three forward call-ups saw time on a kill that went 4-for-4 tonight. The Canes' kill only allowed three shots to Chicago's power play. It was one of many areas that the visitors dominated, leading to one of the most lopsided efforts of the year despite the lineup on the ice.
Additional Thoughts
As well as the Canes played in the offensive zone, Frederik Andersen's performance will fly under the radar. Chicago actually outshot the Canes tonight, 25-22, meaning Andersen finished the night with 23 stops. Many of them were routine, though his two best came in the first, using his skate on Andrew Mangiapane and stoning Nick Lardis on a breakaway. It's the type of night that Andersen needed.
With the win, the Hurricanes' magic number to win the Eastern Conference is down to three. Buffalo shut out Columbus, and the Canadiens scored a late goal to beat the Lightning in Montreal. The Montreal win is especially big, since the Canes hold the tiebreaker over the Habs. Obviously, the Canes must focus on their game, but it's the cherry on top of a very good night.
Up Next: The road trip continues to Salt Lake City for the team's second-ever contest in Utah against the Mammoth on Saturday. The season concludes at the start of next week with battles against a pair of division foes. On Monday, they'll meet the Philadelphia Flyers in the City of Brotherly Love. On Tuesday, they're on Long Island against the Islanders, who might be playing for their postseason lives.