Hawks' DeBrincat, Beaudin clear COVID protocol, start in Tuesday's game

Forward Alex DeBrincat and defenseman Nicolas Beaudin came out of COVID-19 protocol Tuesday, and both played in the Blackhawks' game against Carolina at the United Center.

Neither tested positive, according to coach Jeremy Colliton. Lucas Wallmark, Adam Boqvist and Ryan Carpenter remain in the protocol.

Colliton was definitely happy to see the number of his players on the list shrinking.

"That's the right direction for sure," Colliton said. "Credit to our team. I think we handled it really well as far as taking care of business and focusing on our own performance.

"It's easy when things don't go your way (to) feel sorry for yourself. ... That's not the mentality we want to have in our team."

Beaudin and DeBrincat both helped set up first-period goals.

The first came on the power play when a Beaudin began a play that ended with Philipp Kurashev tapping in pass from Pius Suter.

Less than two minutes later, a backchecking DeBrincat freed the puck up for Patrick Kane, who beat Carolina goalie James Reimer with a slick wrist shot from 26 feet out.

No puck luck:

Dominik Kubalik just can't seem to get going this season, and he chalks a bit of it up to bad luck. The Blackhawks' forward has just 2 goals on 31 shots for a shooting percentage of 6.5 percent.

During his 30-goal campaign in 2019-20, Kubalik converted on 19.1 percent of his shots.

"I'm still trying to play my game, for sure. Nothing complicated," Kubalik said. "Just shoot the puck as much as I can, be around the net as much as I can and use my speed. ...

"Sometimes maybe you need a bounce, a little luck on your side. You have to work or be lucky. That's my mindset right now."

Slap shots:

Heading into Tuesday's games, Kevin Lankinen was fourth in save percentage (.937) and eighth in goals against average (1.97) among goalies with at least three appearances. ... The Hurricanes came into Tuesday allowing the fewest goals per game at 1.67. Their penalty kill was ranked second (91.3%).

He said it

"It's not tough. ... Hockey is fun."

Duncan Keith on if it's difficult to get the juices flowing in the empty United Center

He said it II:

"Gettin' the Corsi up so you guys think I'm good."

Duncan Keith on why he took so many shots against Columbus on Sunday

He said it III:

"I don't think that stat gonna give me anything, right? It's not gonna give me an extra $5 million."

A smiling Nikita Zadorov when asked if he takes pride in being ranked near the top of the league in hits