"We have star players, too, that don’t seem to be protected as well as some of the other teams’ stars," Blackhawks captain Foligno said.

At 4:52 of the second period, Mikko Rantanen scored his first goal as a member of the Hurricanes. One minute later (5:59), Jaccob Slavin made it 3-1. For a team as offensively challenged as the Blackhawks, that felt like a hill too steep to climb.

The Chicago Blackhawks have seen a nice uptick in production from their young star Connor Bedard following a goal scoring drought in November. The phenom currently has 13 goals and 30 assists for a total of 43 points through 49 games in his second NHL season.