![\"Blackhawks](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/CTC-Z-HAWKS-CAR_304a8f.jpg\")
Blackhawks forward Anton Frondell taps gloves with teammates after scoring a goal against the Hurricanes in the first period on April 9, 2026, at the United Center. (Michael Reaves\/Getty)<\/p>\nThe Chicago Blackhawks find themselves in a unique situation to end the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n
They returned to the United Center on Thursday night for the first of four home games to close the year after playing seven of their last eight on the road.<\/p>\n
For Hawks coach Jeff Blashill, the mindset going in was clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have four games at home, (so it\u2019s) making sure that we say to our fans how good this team is when we play good, how good we can be and how good we will be,\u201d he said after practice Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Now they have three games to prove that to fans, because the Hawks did nothing to convince them Thursday in a blowout 7-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
The Hawks (28-37-14) lost for the seventh time in eight games against a Hurricanes team that played without several regulars in their first game since clinching the Metropolitan Division title. The Hurricanes (51-22-6) stayed two points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot good enough, especially at home when we want to have a good stretch for the fans at the end of the year,\u201d defenseman Louis Crevier said. \u201cWe shot ourselves in the foot. It was a mix of that and they were hungrier than us on the puck and wanted to win it more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canes brought the storm just 19 seconds in when defenseman Sean Walker caught Connor Bedard and company skating the other way and floated a shot over Spencer Knight.<\/p>\n
It was a night to forget for the Hawks top line. Bedard, Teuvo Ter\u00e4v\u00e4inen and Nick Lardis were on the ice for four Hurricanes goals, and Lardis had multiple prime scoring chances but didn\u2019t convert.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing that we didn\u2019t do well enough is compete on the puck, so that\u2019s a disappointing thing,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cOne of the reasons that they\u2019re a really good team year after year is their work ethic and compete on the puck is excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes, whose game roster included four AHL call-ups from the Chicago Wolves, made Knight\u2019s night unbearable.<\/p>\n
The seven goals allowed were Knight\u2019s most since Dec. 19, 2022, with the Florida Panthers. Blashill didn\u2019t think about pulling his starter despite stopping only 15 of the Hurricanes\u2019 22 shots (.682).<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m reluctant, just hasn\u2019t been the situation I felt it was the right move,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cSometimes if you know early that a goalie doesn\u2019t have it per se, that\u2019s the time to pull potentially, but I didn\u2019t think we played good enough to make that determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a big believer in doing just to do it. There are times maybe it\u2019s a bit of a spark, but tonight I didn\u2019t think it was the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Logan Stankoven and Mark Jankowski each scored a pair of goals, while K\u2019Andre Miller and Taylor Hall also beat Knight.<\/p>\n
Blackhawks forward Anton Frondell taps gloves with teammates after scoring a goal against the Hurricanes in the first period on April 9, 2026, at the United Center. (Michael Reaves\/Getty)<\/p>\n
Anton Frondell was the sole bright spot for the Hawks, scoring two goals in his ninth NHL game since arriving from Sweden late last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s a really good player, he was a really good player when I saw him on video,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cHe\u2019s strong on his stick, smart, moves well, there\u2019s a lot there and he wants to be really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the 18-year-old Frondell\u2019s first multigoal game, one in the first period in which he took advantage of bad positioning from goaltender Frederik Andersen and another in the third when he deflected in a nice pass from Crevier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second pass (was) pretty sick, so for me, it\u2019s just to tap it in,\u201d Frondell said. \u201cOn the first goal, he makes a big play there keeping the puck alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frondell has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his brief time with the Hawks. While surprised with his production, he credited his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying with good, special players makes it easy sometimes,\u201d Frondell said. \u201cLike today, it\u2019s two easy goals for me. \u2026 It\u2019s more about the pass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frondell centered the second line with Tyler Bertuzzi and Ilya Mikheyev. It took Frondell some time to get adjusted to playing center again after a few games on Bedard\u2019s wing, but he\u2019s getting comfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst couple days, first couple games, I lost every faceoff, but now it feels like (I\u2019m) starting to learn a little bit more (of) how to win the faceoff,\u201d Frondell said. \u201cI like being center.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the final horn sounded, some boobirds shared their displeasure as players exited the ice for the locker room. The Hawks have three games remaining to change their tune.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fans deserve better, I recognize all of that, but there are nights that happens and this was one of them,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to dig in tomorrow and make sure that we correct it and move on to St. Louis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Blackhawks find themselves in a unique situation to end the 2025-26 season. They returned to the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":717629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[12957,3107,960,291,5386,1818,86182,123389],"class_list":["post-717628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-anton-frondell","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-jeff-blashill","tag-spencer-knight"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116379271505150914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}