Stankoven has 3 points, Hurricanes cruise past Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Logan Stankoven scored two goals and had an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes cruised to a 7-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Thursday.

Mark Jankowski scored two goals, Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist, William Carrier had three assists, and Frederik Andersen made 23 saves for the Hurricanes (51-22-6), who clinched the Metropolitan Division with a 6-5 overtime victory against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

Carolina also remained two points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres, who defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-0 on Thursday, for first place in the Eastern Conference.

“It was awesome," Jankowski said. “Everyone was contributing. It was a lot of fun out there. Up and down the lineup, everyone played a role and did their part, and it was a big team win. So, yeah, it was a lot of fun.”

Carolina played the game without several key players, including defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield, as well as forwards Jordan Staal, Jordan Martinook, Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov.

As a result, the team recalled forwards Skyler Brind'Amour, Bradly Nadeau and Josiah Slavin, and defenseman Charles Alexis Legault from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. All four were in the lineup against the Blackhawks.

“You have to kind of know your people,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “They fit perfectly. They know how to play. They know how we play. Obviously, they’re not replacing the guys we had out, but it helps when you have guys who know what they’re doing.

“I thought they did a great job. It’s not the easiest thing to throw all of them in, but I thought they did a great job on the (penalty) kill. Everywhere we had to put them in, there was no, ‘Uh, oh, they’re on the ice,’ type of thing. Kudos to those guys.”

Anton Frondell scored twice for his first multigoal game, Louis Crevier had two assists, and Spencer Knight made 15 saves for the Blackhawks (28-37-14), who have lost two in a row and seven of their past eight games.

“It was a tough night for us,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “We didn’t have it. The one thing that we didn’t do well enough is compete on the puck, so that’s a disappointing thing.”

Sean Walker gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead 19 seconds into the first period. He took a cross-ice feed from Nikolaj Ehlers and scored on a wrist shot while moving into the slot from the top of the right face-off circle.

Frondell tied the game 1-1 at 10:48. Crevier skated down the right wall in front of the net and lost the puck when he tried to get around Carolina defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, but Frondell was there to bury the loose puck with a wrist shot.

Stankoven’s 20th goal of the season put the Hurricanes back ahead 2-1 at 17:10. After taking a neutral zone face-off, Stankoven moved into the offensive zone, fought off Chicago defenseman Sam Rinzel, and scored with a wrist shot.

“I don’t do that too often,” Stankoven said. “Yeah, I just saw off the draw a good chance to jump and kind of steal that puck. I tried to take it to the net and get it up, and luckily enough, I was able to beat the goalie.”

This is the first time Stankoven has reached the 20-goal mark in his NHL career.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s what you dream of as a kid. A lot of work, for sure. I know it’s far from over. I’m going to keep getting better every game.”

Stankoven scored his second goal of the night to give Carolina a 3-1 lead at 4:08 of the second period when he backhanded the rebound of Hall’s shot from the slot.

The Hurricanes went up 4-1 at 14:50 thanks to a deflection in front by Jankowski. Carrier made a cross-ice pass to Alexander Nikishin, who took the puck at the left point and fired a shot that Jankowski redirected over Knight’s glove.

K'Andre Miller scored after coming out of the penalty box to increase Carolina’s lead to 5-1 at 5:47 of the third period. Carrier moved the puck into the offensive zone and passed to Miller in the center of a 3-on-1 rush.

Frondell, who made his NHL debut on March 24, got the Blackhawks to within 5-2 at 6:09. He redirected Crevier’s shot from the right point.

“I love to score,” Frondell said. “It's the best feeling ever. Of course, fun for me to score, score two goals, but it (stinks) to lose.”

Hall’s turnaround shot from the slot at 8:13 made it 6-2, and Jankowski scored his second of the game with a snap shot from in front at 12:51 for the 7-2 final.

NOTES: Stankoven became Carolina’s sixth 20-goal scorer this season. Only two other teams have as many: Colorado and Vegas (both with six). … Carolina scored its seventh goal in the first minute of a game this season, tying Colorado for the most among all teams. … Frondell became the fifth player in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to score in each of their first two career home games with the Blackhawks. The others: Jean Savard (four games in 1977-78), Cole Guttman (three games in 2022-23), Artemi Panarin (two games in 2015-16) and Eddie Olczyk (two games in 1984-85).