The Carolina Hurricanes are starting to look a lot like the defending Stanley Cup champions everyone expected. After stumbling out of the gate at 0-1-1, they’ve now ripped off four straight wins, and Saturday night’s 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Windy City was the latest sign they’re finding their stride fast.
This one had a little bit of everything from Carolina’s depth group, with three different players finishing with multi-point nights. Jackson Blake, who came in riding a four-game point streak with five assists, added another goal and assist after already posting his first multi-point game of the season Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks. He’s now up to a five-game point streak, with one goal and seven points in six games, a strong start to his third NHL season after putting up 22 goals and 53 points in 81 games last year.
Jordan Martinook got himself going in a big way, too. He entered the night still searching for his first points of the season, but that changed with a secondary assist on Blake’s goal and a backhand finish that slipped five-hole past Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight.
Martinook had been held off the scoresheet through the first five games of 2026-27, even while doing his usual work on the third line with captain Jordan Staal and on the penalty kill. After last season’s 12-goal, 29-point campaign in 77 games, getting on the board with his first goal and two points of the year had to feel good.
Afterward, Martinook was asked about the way the group is clicking, and he said, “Every single line is contributing. The defense is playing some of the best hockey I think I’ve ever seen the group play together.
They’re tight on everything. The sticks are incredible.
It’s been a real together group for the last little bit here, and it’s been fun to watch.”
Defenseman Mike Reilly joined the party as well, turning in his own two-point night. He finished last season with one goal and nine points in 42 games, and with some uncertainty about his role heading into 2026-27, he’s already made a smooth fit alongside Shayne Gostisbehere as Carolina’s sixth defenseman. Through four games this season, Reilly has two assists, both coming against Chicago.
The supporting cast wasn’t done there. Sebastian Aho kept his goal streak going by scoring his fifth goal in five games, extending his point streak to five. Mark Jankowski has now scored in three straight, while Taylor Hall has put together a three-game point streak of his own, collecting three goals and two assists over that stretch.
The result pushed Carolina to 4-1-1 after that rough opening pair of games, and the big picture is clear: the Hurricanes have settled in and are rolling through the early part of the 2026-27 season. They’ll turn right back around and face the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night for the second time in eight games, closing out the weekend with a back-to-back.
In Other News...
Jordan Staal News Forces Hurricanes Into A Sudden Flyers Shuffle
A late change to the lineup sent the Hurricanes into a different look for their game against the Flyers, with the center depth chart taking on a new shape just before puck drop. Jordan Staal, a fixture in Carolinas matchup-heavy minutes, was ruled out with a lower-body injury shortly before the opening faceoff, forcing the coaching staff to adjust on the fly.
Mark Jankowski stepped into Staals third-line center spot, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi slid down the middle behind him. For a Carolina team that leans on its center group to drive both pace and defensive structure, the shuffle is the kind of wrinkle that can ripple through the rest of the evening, even if it starts with one unexpected absence. [Read more 🡒]
Canes Top Line Is Creating A Feeling Fans Have Missed
The recent win over Philadelphia offered a familiar kind of lift for Carolina, the sort that has often defined its best stretches under Rod BrindAmour. The Hurricanes handled the Flyers 4-1, with the top line doing the heavy lifting and the scoring coming at even strength, a detail that can matter as much to the room as it does to the box score.
Pyotr Kochetkov backed it up with 18 saves, allowing only a redirection goal, but the bigger takeaway for Carolina was the way Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho helped set the tone in the attacking zone. For a fan base that has been waiting to feel that top-line surge again, it was the kind of performance that brings back a little of the old confidence, even if one lineup question still hangs over the group. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Just Exposed How Badly The Flyers Need Defensive Answers
Seven games into the 2026-27 season, the Flyers are already in a familiar kind of scramble, only this time the damage is showing up on the back end. A trip through Carolina offered a blunt reminder of how fragile the defensive structure has become, with coverage lapses turning into easy looks for the Hurricanes and adding to a start that looks nothing like the steadier stretches Philadelphia had managed in recent years.
The Flyers have already been forced to lean on youth because injuries and uneven play have thinned out their blue line, and Oliver Bonks arrival from the AHL was supposed to help stabilize things. Instead, the rookie found himself in the middle of a difficult night as the Hurricanes kept pressing, leaving Philadelphia still searching for answers and still waiting for someone on defense to provide them. [Read more 🡒]