Seth Jarvis scored two power play goals in the third period and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the host Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Sunday night, keeping alive the possibility of finishing with the best record in the NHL.
Jarvis had the tying and go-ahead tallies before Sebastian Aho notched an empty-net goal in the team’s fifth consecutive victory.
Jordan Staal also scored and Andrei Svechnikov provided two assists for the Hurricanes (52-22-7, 111 points), who are 3-0-0 so far on a season-ending, four-game road trip. Pyotr Kochetkov made 14 saves in the win.
Chicago’s Frank Nazar scored in his NHL debut and teammate Andreas Athanasiou also had a goal. The Blackhawks (23-52-5, 51 points), playing in their home finale, have lost four games in a row.
Former Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek made 31 saves for Chicago.
Carolina finishes the regular season Tuesday night at Columbus before opening the playoffs at home.
The game winner marked goal No. 33 of the season for Jarvis. It came with 3:33 remaining.
Nazar’s goal came 10:05 into his first NHL game when he got beyond the Carolina defense.
Staal’s 10th goal of the season tied the game at 4:10 of the second period. He followed his shot from inside the blue line and put back the rebound to beat Mrazek.
Athanasiou recorded his second goal of the season with 18:06 to play in the third period.
Jarvis posted his first goal of the game on a power play with 13:36 to go. The goal came with Jarvis redirecting the puck in front of the net and the Blackhawks unable to corral the puck.
For the go-ahead goal, Jarvis was positioned on the opposite side of the crease from his previous goal, but he helped the puck find the net again.
Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei, who had played in all 80 previous games this season, sat out along with forward Teuvo Teravainen
The Hurricanes defeated Chicago 6-3 earlier in the season.
–Field Level Media
