Hurricanes defeat Blackhawks in shootout for fifth straight win

CHICAGO -- Warren Foegele had a goal and an assist in his return from NHL COVID-19 protocol, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in a shootout at United Center on Tuesday.

James Reimer made 30 saves through overtime and three more on three attempts in the shootout for the Hurricanes (6-1-0), who extended their winning streak to five. Andrei Svechnikov scored the first goal of the game and the only goal in the shootout.
Foegele was placed in the protocol Jan. 19, when the Hurricanes shut down their practice facility. He missed three games.
"I don't think it was as much the legs as the lungs, getting back to playing fast hockey," Foegele said. "I was just trying to keep it simple, tried to take short shifts. The legs kind of felt good, but [we got] a big two points there."
Jordan Staal had two assists for Carolina, which will play Chicago again here Thursday.
"Today was not a good game for us," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I'll just leave it at that. We'll take the win, for sure, and we won't remember it in a little while, but we were not in sync. We were a little off for most of the game. … We got fortunate. Sometimes you have to win ugly games. We hung in there and our big guys kind of took over."

Alex DeBrincat and Dominik Kubalik each had two assists for Chicago (3-4-4). Kevin Lankinen made 38 saves and two more in the shootout. DeBrincat missed the previous four games after being placed in protocol Jan. 25.
"It was a little tough, but I had morning skate to get the legs back a little bit," DeBrincat said. "First period, I was just trying to keep it simple, play an easy game and get the legs under me and it turned out fine. I felt pretty good the rest of the game."
Staal sent a one-handed backhand pass across the slot to Svechnikov, who scored a tap-in goal at the left post for a 1-0 lead at 3:51 of the first period. Staal then sent a loose puck in the slot to Foegele, who scored his first goal of the season to make it 2-0 at 14:56.
"The first 7-8 minutes we weren't quite ready for how they were going to come at us," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We got caught on the wrong side a couple times and when they got the size and speed, it's hard to recover as they can create some chances there. We dug ourselves a bit of a hole, but really happy with how we bounced back the latter half of the [first] period. I thought the first two periods were a pretty even hockey game. We were right there with them."
Philipp Kurashev made it 2-1 at 17:48 when he scored a tap-in goal on the power play at the left post.
Patrick Kane tied it 2-2 with 18 seconds remaining in the second period from the high slot. With his goal, Kane (394 goals, 639 assists) tied Doug Weight (275 goals, 755 assists) for sixth among U.S.-born players with 1,033 NHL points.

Nino Niederreiter's shot went off Connor Murphy to Vincent Trocheck, who shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle to make it 3-2 at 6:50 of the third period. Dylan Strome tied it 3-3 at 13:21.
This was Chicago's fourth loss in overtime or the shootout.
"It's not unlucky, we've got to be better," Colliton said. "Finding a way to create a little more, taking care of the puck a little more in overtime. We've had some chances, no question. … But I do think we need to improve."
NOTES: Forwards Jordan Martinook and Teuvo Teravainen and defenseman Jaccob Slavin also returned for Carolina after being placed in the protocol Jan. 19. Martinook had one shot and four hits in 10:56, Teravainen had three shots and one hit in 16:14, and Slavin had two hits and blocked one shot in a Hurricanes-high 24:54. ... Defenseman Nicolas Beaudin returned for Chicago after being placed in the protocol Saturday. He had one hit and blocked one shot playing an NHL career-high 20:01.