Carolina Hurricanes defeat Chicago Blackhawks, 7-2, without top liners

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - APRIL 09: Logan Stankoven #22 of the Carolina Hurricanes high fives teammates after scoring a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during the second period at the United Center on April 09, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-2, on Thursday night to inch closer to locking up the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

After clinching the division on Tuesday and calling up four players from the Chicago Wolves, the Hurricanes ruled out many regular faces including Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Jaccob Slavin. It didn’t matter, though, as Logan Stankoven netted two goals to lead Carolina past the struggling Blackhawks.

Despite being undermanned, Carolina came out of the gate with a sense of urgency in the first period.

Sean Walker found the back of the net just 19 seconds into the game to give the Canes an early 1-0 lead.

The Blackhawks tied the game up a little over halfway into the first when Anton Frondell found a loose puck in front of the net.

Frederik Andersen made an outstanding pad save to rob Andrew Mangiapane of what looked like an easy goal.

A goaltender interference call wiped a goal off the board for Carolina as Skyler Brind’Amour ran into Spencer Knight.

Just seconds after, Stankoven did extend the lead for the Canes on a hard drive to the net, beating Knight up high to take a 2-1 lead.

Less than five minutes into the second, Stankoven tallied his 21st goal of the season and second multi-goal game in April to give Carolina a two goal advantage.

The Canes extended their lead to 4-1 when Mark Jankowski tipped a point shot from Alexander Nikishin late in the second period.

After going into the third period up three goals, Carolina still didn’t let off the gas.

A little over five minutes into the third, following a penalty kill, K’Andre Miller finished off a 3-on-1 to give the Hurricanes a 5-1 advantage.

Chicago answered right back when Frondell tapped in his second of the night 22 seconds later, cutting the deficit to three.

Taylor Hall ripped a shot, while spinning, past Knight to help the Canes regain a four goal lead, 6-2.

Jankowski added his second of the night, giving Carolina its seventh goal of the game.

Carolina will be back in action to face the Utah Mammoth next on Saturday at 5 PM.