On a night that had all the makings of a memorable birthday, Oliver Moore delivered when it mattered most. The 21-year-old forward buried the shootout winner and helped lift the Chicago Blackhawks to a gritty 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. It was a game that saw momentum swing back and forth, but in the end, it was Moore’s poise and Spencer Knight’s clutch goaltending that sealed it for Chicago.
Let’s talk about Knight for a second. The young netminder is starting to string together the kind of performances that build confidence in a locker room.
Coming off a shutout of Winnipeg on Monday, he followed it up with a 28-save effort through regulation and overtime, then stood tall in the shootout, stopping five of six Carolina attempts. That’s back-to-back wins and a reminder of why Knight remains one of the more intriguing young goaltenders in the league.
Chicago got regulation goals from Connor Murphy, Ilya Mikheyev, and Nick Lardis, each one giving the Blackhawks a lead they couldn’t quite hold onto-but never fully let slip away either. Mikheyev opened the scoring with a short-handed tally midway through the first, swatting home his own rebound for his first shorty of the season. That early energy set the tone, and while the Hurricanes answered quickly through rookie defenseman Joel Nystrom-who notched his first NHL goal-Chicago never looked rattled.
Lardis gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 edge early in the second, only for Carolina captain Jordan Staal to knot things up midway through the period with his first goal since mid-December. Then came the late third-period fireworks: Murphy and Jackson Blake traded goals just 82 seconds apart, setting up a frantic finish and sending the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, Frederik Andersen did everything he could to keep Carolina in it. The veteran netminder robbed Moore in overtime-denying him what could’ve been a storybook game-winner-and also turned away a high-danger look from Wyatt Kaiser.
Andersen finished the night with 18 saves in regulation and overtime, plus four more in the shootout. It was a strong outing, even if the result didn’t go Carolina’s way.
The Hurricanes, who had won five straight at home coming into the night, just couldn’t find the final edge. Still, they remain unbeaten in regulation when top defenseman Jaccob Slavin is in the lineup this season (8-0-3), a stat that speaks volumes about his quiet impact on the ice.
For Chicago, this win was more than just two points-it was a showcase of their young talent stepping up in big moments. Moore’s night included a scrap with Alexander Nikishin in the second period and a near-miss in overtime before he eventually delivered in the shootout. That kind of resilience doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but it resonates in a locker room.
Next up, the Blackhawks return home to host Tampa Bay on Friday night, looking to build on this momentum. The Hurricanes will look to bounce back on the road Saturday in Ottawa.
But for now, the spotlight belongs to Moore, Knight, and a Blackhawks team that’s starting to show a little bite.