Hurricanes continue surge with convincing home win over Ducks

Chip Alexander, The News & Observer on Jan 8, 2026

Published in Hockey

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour seemed in a somewhat somber mood a few hours before the game.

No, he said, injured defenseman Jaccob Slavin was not yet ready to rejoin the lineup and would not play.

Neither would center Noah Philp, who Brind’Amour said was in the concussion protocol.

Goaltender Frederik Andersen, Brind’Amour said, would start Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks, seeking to end a personal nine-game winless streak.

Brind’Amour seemed in a better mood after the game, after the Hurricanes turned back the struggling Ducks, 5-2. The Canes had a third straight win and Andersen had his first since Nov. 6 against Minnesota, earning some “Fred-die!” chants from Canes fans by game’s end that had to be soothing for the veteran.

“Good for him,” Brind’Amour said. “He needed to get a win. Now, maybe he can relax a little bit and hopefully he’ll build on that.”

Center Logan Stankoven, defenseman Jalen Chatfield and winger Taylor Hall each had a goal and assist for the Canes. Mark Jankowski scored Carolina’s’ first goal, Jackson Blake gave the Hurricanes a 4-2 lead in the third and Hall finished it off with an empty-netter late.

Chatfield’s goal came on a shot from the left wing at 16:06 of the second. It was his first of the season and was the game-winner as the hard-working D-man played his 300th career game and was named the game’s first star.

Andersen faced just 13 shots and the two Anaheim goals, by Ryan Poehling and Mikael Granlund, came on shots with little defensive resistance. But among his 11 stops were some sparking saves, denying Granlund on a short-handed breakaway in the first period and making two sharp stops early in the third to protect a 3-2 lead.

“We pretty much took it to them all game long,” Andersen said. “We didn’t give them too much. They had a tough time earning chances. We put it to them and it obviously paid off.”

Andersen had gone 0-7-2 in his winless streak as Bussi emerged from a waiver-wire pickup to the Canes’ No. 1 goalie. With Pyotr Kochetkov out following surgery, Andersen is being counted on to return to form and give the Canes a strong 1-2 punch in net.

Andersen was asked if there was some relief in finally getting a win.

“I’m just happy to play a good game and keep moving on,” he said. “Sometimes, things don’t go your way. You’ve got to keep with it, keep turning the rocks over and finding ways to get better. Clean up your game as much as you can and believe in yourself and you can turn it around.

“I’ve felt good lately but just because you feel good doesn’t mean you’re going to get a win. You have to continue to work hard and keep believing you’re going to get rewarded more often than not.”

Slavin, who has been named to the U.S. Olympic team, missed his 38th game in what has been a badly disjointed season. He played the first two, missed the next 28 with a lower-body injury, played five and now has missed the past 10.

Slavin practiced with the team Wednesday and there was hope he’d be ready Thursday.

“I’ll tell you when he tells me and he hasn’t told me,” Brind’Amour said in the pregame media session. “When he feels he’s a hundred percent, he’ll be in there.”

Against the Ducks, now 0-7-1 in their past eight, the Canes (27-14-3) went with defensive pairings of Shayne Gostisbehere with Chatfield, K’Andre Miller with Sean Walker, and Alexander Nikishin with Joel Nystrom. All three pairs did their part in the D zone as the Ducks managed just three shots in the second period and four in third.

“I can’t really say enough about how they’ve played here in the last little bit, just how competitive they’ve been and really making it hard for the other team to get in the zone, winning their battles,” Brind’Amour said. “That has really been the difference.”

While it was a workmanlike win for Carolina, there was a lot to like. Stankoven scored his third goal in as many games. Blake picked up his 13th goal to end a five-game goal-less streak. Hall has five points in his last four games. Jankowski’s goal in the second period, the center powering the puck to the net, tied the score 1-1.

“They got the first one, but we stuck with what we know is winning hockey,” Jankowski said.