The Jeremy Colliton era got off to an inauspicious start Thursday night in Chicago as his Blackhawks fell behind 4-0 and lost 4-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes.
“We definitely got better as the game went on,” Colliton said. “No doubt about that. I liked, we had a push there mid second period. We started to really skate and pressure the puck, and I thought we were a little bit better in our own end, which helped us to create a little more.”
That was now how the Hawks’ brass saw this turning out after their firing of Joel Quenneville earlier in the week.
“We were skating and had some zone time and were able to generate some energy,” he said. “Of course we scored, but it looked like we had some push back, which was nice to see, and we carried that over into the third. We had our chances, we had our pressure moments, and we scored the third goal. It looked like we were close to really turning the game.”
Andrei Svechnikov, Jaccob Slavin, Phil Di Giuseppe and Calvin de Haan had the Canes goals.
“It wasn’t pretty at times, but it’s also nice to play with the lead. To have that four-goal cushion is something we haven’t really had all year. We grinded it out and ended up getting the two points, that’s all that matters, especially on the road and [in] one of the hardest buildings to play in in the League,” Haan said after the game.
Scott Darling made 35 saves in the win as the Canes snapped a five-game losing streak.
“Right now I just want to win,” Darling said. “It’s my first win of the season here so it feels good. It’s not like I want to beat the Hawks or anything, I just want to win the game, no hard feelings towards them, but it’s nice to win.”
Patrick Kane, David Kampf and Nick Schmaltz had the Chicago goals who closed to within one goal at 3:33 of the third period but could not break through after that.
[WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Corey Crawford made 36 saves in the loss.
“Yeah, it’s different. We’ve played with the same guy for 10 years, so obviously any type of change is going to be different, but I thought for his first game he was very calm and seemed like he had a powerful message there in the first and second, just to clean up some things and have a better response, but any time you play for a new coach there’s going to be a few differences here and there,” Kane said of Colliton as head coach.
“But as far as judging a coach, I thought he was a good presence behind the bench.”
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