CHICAGO -- The Blackhawks dropped their home finale on Sunday evening, a 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at the United Center in a decisive third period.
Frank Nazar, a 2022 first-round pick (No. 13 overall) made his NHL debut on the afternoon and scored on his very first NHL shot, putting a breakaway chance over the shoulder of Pyotr Kochetkov for a 1-0 lead.
"Frank was really good. I really liked his game tonight and really happy for him," head coach Luke Richardson said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get the win, but definitely some bright spots there."
Petr Mrazek was stellar against his former team, stopping 24 of 25 shots faced in the opening two periods to keep his team in a 1-1 game heading into the final frame.
The Blackhawks took the lead as the result of another breakaway from a former first-rounder, this time as Lukas Reichel put a shot off the pad of Kochetkov, but with the rebound falling right to the stick of Andreas Athanasiou, who put a quick shot upstairs for a 2-1 lead. The Hurricanes, though, answered less than five minutes later on a power-play tally to tie things, 2-2, and then scored again on the man advantage with under four minutes to play to go in front, 3-2. Carolina added an empty netter late so seal the win.
