Recap: Blackhawks 5, Hurricanes 2

The Carolina Hurricanes were riding high on a three game winning streak but that did not translate to another good game as they were dominated at times while losing to the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2 on Monday night in Chicago.

Jonathan Toews scored the first two goals for the home team as they built a 4-0 lead before the Canes scored in the third period.

Toews got behind Jordan Staal for the only goal in a slow first period in which the Hawks outshot the Canes, 7-4.

Carolina opened the second period with the man advantage but Toews made it 2-0 with a shorthanded tally.

The Hurricanes then had a chance to do some damage with some 5-on-3 time, but failed at that as well.  The Blackhawks upped the score to 4-0 before the end of the second period, so the Carolina coaching staff changed up goalies to start the third.  Anton Khudobin replaced starter Cam Ward who had allowed those four goals on 18 shots.

The Canes got on the board when Andrej Nestrasil fed John-Michael Liles and the defenseman made no mistake with his shot.  Nestrasil now has five points in the last three games and continued his business in front of the opposing net as well as his scoring streak.  He got very close to knocking in a rebound later in the period, but Corey Crawford made the save.

Marian Hossa would make it 5-1 later in the third, then Alexander Semin closed things out when he zipped a backhander off of a nice Eric Staal feed with just a minute and change left.

The Canes ended up out-shooting their opponents 29-26 for the game.  On another positive note, they were not called for a single penalty in this one.  The club will return home and will next face the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.

Game Notes:

• The Carolina defense looked like they missed Sekera and Gleason in this one.  Justin Faulk played a team high 23:51, but finished with a (-2).  He also had a team high five shots on goal, blocked three shots, and two takeaways.  Nestrasil and Semin were next with four shots on goal each.
• Michal Jordan had a team high seven blocked shots.
• The team was credited with 31 hits led by Brett Bellemore with eight.