Colliton loses coaching debut with Blackhawks to Hurricanes

CHICAGO-- Jeremy Colliton lost his NHL coaching debut with the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes at United Center on Thursday.

"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."
Colliton, at 33 the youngest coach in the NHL, was promoted from Rockford in the American Hockey League.
"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."
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Chicago (6-7-3), which trailed 4-0, has lost six straight games. It named Colliton coach after firing Joel Quenneville on Tuesday.
Andrei Svechnikov, Jaccob Slavin, Phil Di Giuseppe and Calvin de Haan scored for Carolina (7-7-2), which ended a five-game losing streak.

Scott Darling, who was traded after three seasons with Chicago (2014-17), made 35 saves in his first game against former teammate Corey Crawford.
"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 had a goal and an assist, and David Kampf and Nick Schmaltz scored for Chicago. Crawford made 30 saves.

Svechnikov gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 4:46 of the first period with a diving backhand off a rebound. Slavin made it 2-0 at 9:09 with a power-play goal.
Di Giuseppe extended the lead to 3-0 at 15:53 with his first goal of the season. He was recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
De Haan scored his first goal with the Hurricanes to make it 4-0 at 1:20 of the second period.
"Kind of prescouted that before the game, how their wingers are going to try to take the walls away in the [defensive] zone," de Haan said. "I saw the opportunity to jump in, and fortunately there was no one in front of me or covering me and Sebastian [Aho] made a great play, and without a pass like that, that puck doesn't go in."

Aho's assist ended a three-game pointless streak. He had four goals and 13 assists in a 12-game point streak to start the season.
Kane made it 4-1 at 4:34 of the second period with his 12th goal of the season, tied for the NHL lead. Kampf made it 4-2 at 10:53.
Schmaltz got Chicago within 4-3 at 3:33 of the third period.
"A little toe pull and shot and anything can happen," Schmaltz said. "Goalie loses it or whatever, get a lucky bounce through an arm. Never a bad play. So I'm just trying to, it was a 1-on-2 or something, I don't have another play, so I took a shot on net."

They said it

"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." -- Hurricanes defenseman Calvin de Haan
"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. But as far as judging a coach, I thought he was a good presence behind the bench." -- Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane on Jeremy Colliton

Need to know

Blackhawks forward Marcus Kruger did not return for the third period after injuring his left leg. Colliton said Kruger could be scratched Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers. ... Kane has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his past nine games. He is tied for the goals lead with Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks, Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, and David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins. ... Crawford has made at least 30 saves four times in eight games this season.

What's next

Hurricanes: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, FS-D, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSP, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)