UNDATED (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes will carry a 11-3-1 record into Saturday’s big Central Division matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Hurricanes scored three times in the third period of a 5-3 victory over the Blackhawks.
Martin Necas broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal 2:28 into the final period. Nino Niederreiter doubled the Hurricanes’ lead by scoring with the man advantage at 15:04 of the third. Niedereitter has a team-high nine goals this season after scoring twice on Friday. He also assisted on Vincent Trochek’s second-period goal.
Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for Chicago.
Carolina still trails the Central leading-Panthers following Florida’s 7-2 rout of the Red Wings. Patric Hornqvist scored in the first and third periods to help the Panthers start and finish strong.
Aleksander Barkov added a goal and two assists, and Chris Driedger stopped 30 shots as Florida moved to 11-2-2.
The Jets and Oilers also won on Friday.
Laurent Brossoit made 29 saves for his second career shutout, Mark Scheifele scored on a first-period breakaway before the Jets completed a 2-0 victory over the Canucks. Mason Appleton added an empty-netter after Thatcher Demko made 29 saves for Vancouver.
Mike Smith made 20 saves and the Oilers opened a home-and-home series with the Flames by defeating their archrivals, 2-1. Jesse Puljujarvi and Gaetan Haas scored for the winners.
