NBCSN’s coverage of the 2020-21 NHL season continues with Thursday’s matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes. Blackhawks-Hurricanes stream coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
Carolina and Chicago will close out a two-game series two days after the Blackhawks pulled out a 2-1 win at home against the Hurricanes. Despite being doubled up in shots (32-16), the Hawks scored two goals in the first 4:02 of the second period to take a 2-0 lead en route to snapping the Canes’ three-game win streak.
Tuesday’s loss prevented Carolina from taking over the top spot in the Central as they sit one point back of both defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay and Florida. The Hurricanes have played well of late, going 11-2-2 over their last 15 games, which included an eight-game win streak. After this game, Carolina returns home for an eight-game homestand, which should be welcome news considering their 11-1-3 home record this season (12-7-0 on the road).
Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton finally was kept off the scoresheet as his 14-game point streak was halted on Tuesday. The run was the longest of any player this season and marked only the second time in the last 25 years a defenseman amassed a point streak as long (Shayne Gostisbehere – 15 games in 2015-16 with the Flyers).
Alex DeBrincat has been looking more and more like the 41-goal scorer from two seasons ago than his 18-goal output last year. The 23-year-old already has 19 goals this season (tied-fourth in NHL), including three in the last two games.
[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 7:30 P.M. ET - NBCSN]
WHAT: Carolina Hurricanes at Chicago Blackhawks
WHERE: United Center
WHEN: Thursday, April 1, 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN (^Blacked out in local markets: Chicago)
ON THE CALL: John Walton, Pierre McGuire
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Blackhawks-Hurricanes stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
BLACKHAWKS
Alex DeBrincat - Pius Suter - Patrick Kane
Dominik Kubalik - David Kampf - Brandon Hagel
Mattias Janmark - Kirby Dach - Dylan Strome
Ryan Carpenter - Carl Soderberg - Philipp Kurashev
Nikita Zadorov - Connor Murphy
Duncan Keith - Adam Boqvist
Calvin de Haan - Wyatt Kalynuk
Starting goalie: Kevin Lankinen
HURRICANES
Nino Niederreiter - Sebastian Aho - Martin Necas
Andrei Svechnikov - Vincent Trocheck - Jesper Fast
Brock McGinn - Jordan Staal - Warren Foegele
Cedric Paquette - Steven Lorentz - Jordan Martinook
Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury - Jake Bean
Starting goalie: James Reimer