Carolina thumps Blackhawks, 6-3 A plague of petulance has swamped the NHL this season, Bedard is the latest to find himself in that pantheon

In Carolina, it was the “you can’t touch me” tour continued in the NHL on Monday. The Hurricanes broke out to a 409 lead on the Chicago Blackhawks, and then eased into a 6-3 win.

Connor Bedard was the latest of the aggrieved youngsters in the NHL pantheon of petulance.

Spencer Martin made 14 saves in the win.

“It’s a great feeling, but I still feel like I have a lot to prove,” Martin said. “It’s been a special opportunity to play with a team like this. The way they’ve brought me into this locker room is really building my confidence as well.”

That;s right, the Blackhawks managed all of 17 shots.

The Hurricanes improved to 33-17-5 off their third straight win.

Bedard had taken exception to a check in the low slot that sent him into Martin early in the match. Then Sebastian Aho put Bedard on his backside with a reverse check below the goal line.

Bedard’s reaction was stare down Martin after he scored off a power play with seven minutes gone in the third period to make it a 5-2 count in favor of the Canes.

Martin’s reaction was to point to the scoreboard.

You may have gone through juniors not being touched, but this is not the juniors.

The Canes dominated play through the first two periods, and took a 4-0 lead in the game.

“Tonight was really good because I thought for two periods we played really well,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

Michael Bunting hit for a double to get the Carolina offense humming with a goal at 11:45 of the opening stanza,

He collected his double at 1:59 of the middle frame for a 2-0 advantage.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, pushed the lead to 3-0 at 8:22 of the second off a shot from the right side

“It felt good. It’s been a while. First goal this year,” Kotkaniemi said. “I just try to think more in a simple way, the little things, but I feel the goals are going to come as long as you work hard and do the simple things right.”

Aho ballooned the lead to 4-0 midway through the second. He scored off a breakaway.

“I was thinking about wrapping it, but I ended up holding onto it,” Aho said. “Then I got a little space there and put it in.”

The Blackhawks dropped to 15-38-3.

“We know that they come at you at all times, all four lines. Their [defense] presses,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We didn’t handle it well. We didn’t have the puck hardly at all in the first half of the game. It’s hard to create anything offensively, and [there was] way too much energy wasted defensively.”

Nick Foligno restored the three-goal lead at 4-1 when he put a spin move together for a backhanded goal at 15:23 for a 4-1 advantage to Carolina.

“When you get a team like them that just comes at you, you get caught if you overthink it,” Foligno said. “You look slow, you look lethargic. That’s what happened. Then all of a sudden in the third, where we said, ‘Let’s forget about it and go play’, our game comes to life because of it.”

Brent Burns gave the Canes a 5-1 lead at 2:34 of the third period, scoring on a power play, off a rebound.

Bedard then scored to make it 5-2.

“I thought we did a nice job on [Bedard] actually, and he still gets on the score sheet,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s super skilled and he knows how to get his ice and find his teammates. Whoever gets to play with him is pretty fortunate.”

Chicago’s Tyler Johnson scored near the midway point of the third to make 5-3.

Jordan Martinook hit an empty net at 18:11 for the 6-3 final count on the scoreboard.

Petr Mrazek made 36 saves in the loss.