Hurricanes edge Blackhawks, extend home point streak

The Carolina Hurricanes extended their home point streak to 11 games with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at PNC Arena on Friday.
Carolina (16-12-7) is 10-0-1 during the streak and 5-1-1 in its past seven games. The Hurricanes have won three straight against the Blackhawks (23-11-5) dating to last season.
"I thought we did something pretty special [on home ice] during our Stanley Cup year (2006), but that's a long time ago," said Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward, who made 27 saves in his 11th straight start. "We're enjoying it. We're having fun. It's exciting to come to the rink and play. We just want to build off this and continue it going forward."

WATCH: All Blackhawks vs. Hurricanes highlights
Elias Lindholm, Lee Stempniak and Jay McClement scored for Carolina.
Michal Kempny and Vinnie Hinostroza scored, and Scott Darling made 25 saves for Chicago. Jonathan Toews assisted on both goals for the Blackhawks, who are 1-3-1 in their past five games.
"I liked the play we made on the goal [by Kempny], and then they made a couple plays around our net that we were a little sloppy, and we don't give up those kind of goals," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought all three goals could've been prevented."

This was the Blackhawks' final game before playing the St. Louis Blues in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Busch Stadium on Monday.
The Hurricanes made it 3-1 at 2:54 of the third period when McClement scored off a turnover by Patrick Kane.
Hinostroza pulled the Blackhawks within 3-2 at 5:49 when Toews shot the puck off him. Chicago is 14-6-5 in one-goal games.
The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead at 6:36 of the first period on Kempny's first NHL goal. He also assisted on Hinostroza's goal for the first multipoint game in the NHL.
Lindholm made it 1-1 with his fourth goal at 8:32. Stempniak scored his eighth goal 1:05 later. Carolina outshot Chicago 16-8 in the period.
The Blackhawks had more puck possession in the second period, outshooting the Hurricanes 10-6.

Goal of the game

McClement made Kane pay for a turnover in the Blackhawks zone less than three minutes into the third period. Kane's pass from the left-wing wall went straight to McClement, who sent the puck past Darling.

Save of the game

Ward left his crease and whiffed at the puck late in the second period. He fell to the ice but made a save at 6:03 when Hinostroza's shot hit him in the mask.

Unsung performance of the game

Toews set up each Blackhawks goal with smart plays. On the first, he got to a loose puck and passed to Kempny for a one-timer. On the second, Toews created a shot and put the puck off Hinostroza's left knee into the net.

Highlight of the game

Stempniak finished a nice play by his linemates. After former Blackhawks center Teuvo Teravainen shot from the left wing, Sebastian Aho redirected the puck into Darling's left pad. Stempniak scored off the rebound.

They said it

"Against Minnesota [last season] we weren't too happy with that effort, so you just look at the last number of outdoor games that we've played, our record hasn't been that great. I think we can look at it that way. And after the fact they're big points for us in our division, that St. Louis and [the Minnesota Wild] are really close to us. We want to start getting on the winning trend again and we'll have that opportunity in a couple days." -- Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews on the Winter Classic
"We played an excellent first period, kind of dictated the play and capitalized on our opportunities. Good teams find a way to push, and I thought they did in the second period. We competed right to the end, right to the final buzzer." -- Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward

Need to know

The Blackhawks played without injured right wing Marian Hossa (upper body) for the fourth straight game. Hossa hopes to return against the Blues in the Winter Classic. … Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and is week to week. … Lindholm (upper body) didn't play in the third period.

What's next

Hurricanes: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: At the St. Louis Blues in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Busch Stadium on Monday (1 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV)