Sutter, Cullen lift Canes past Blackhawks 4-2

The game that figured to bite the Blackhawks did just that on Saturday.

Playing the final game of a 15-day, eight-game road trip after flying from coast to coast on Friday, the Hawks ran out of gas defensively in the third period and lost 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center.

The suddenly hot Hurricanes got goals from Brandon Sutter and Matt Cullen on deflections 26 seconds apart midway through the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and send them to their fourth straight win.

All things considered, it was great road trip for the Hawks, who won five times, taking 10 of a possible 16 points. But what's most important is when the Hawks began the trip Jan. 16 in Columbus, their first-place lead on Nashville in the Central Division was 7 points. They're coming home 15 points up on the Predators.

"We got double digits (in points) and we said .500 would be OK and we'd be happy with double digits, but tonight would have been a really good trip," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We're not complaining, but I think maybe we deserved a better way to end it."

Because of the snow and ice storm that hit North Carolina, only 6,896 watched Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward make 39 saves to frustrate the Hawks. Ward was the difference over the final two periods.

"I thought the last 40 minutes we were better, but he was strong and maybe our finish wasn't as good," Quenneville said.

"Cam was fantastic," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said.

Ward twice stopped Patrick Kane in alone, the second time in the final minute with the Hawks on a power play and goalie Cristobal Huet pulled for a sixth attacker, making it a 6-on-4. Kane had all kinds of time, but Ward gloved his backhander from in tight.

"I stayed patient and tried to out-wait him and not let him make a big move," Ward said.

"We're still interrogating our forwards and defense as to why we would leave that man there alone, but that just shows the confidence our team has in Cam Ward," said Maurice.

The Hawks outshot the Hurricanes 41-24 and got goals from Marian Hossa and Andrew Ladd.

Ladd's goal made it 2-2 at 7:43 of the third period and appeared to have the Hawks in a position to get something out of the game. But Sutter was left alone by defensemen Brian Campbell and Niklas Hjalmarsson to tip home a shot at 9:08. Cullen then beat Brent Seabrook to the net for a deflection and a 4-2 lead 26 seconds later.

Seabrook and partner Duncan Keith were minus-2 as was the Hawks' top line of Jonathan Toews, Troy Brouwer and Kane.

"We can talk all we want about their goaltender making saves, but we made too many mistakes," Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "I don't know if it was finding our legs or just finding our smartness, or whatever you want to call it. We were skating, but we made mistakes you can't make. It's nice to be done (with the trip), but we wanted to get the win tonight and feel better going home."

<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Tim Sassone's game tracker</b></p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">Hurricanes 4, Blackhawks 2</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">Three stars</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">1. Cam Ward, Hurricanes: He was the difference with 39 saves in goal.</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">2. Matt Cullen, Hurricanes: Scored a goal and won 9 of 11 faceoffs.</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">3. Marian Hossa, Hawks: Had a goal and assist and was a threat much of the night.</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">Bad numbers</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">The Hurricanes won 67 percent of the faceoffs, and would you believe Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Troy Brouwer were a combined minus-10?</p>