Oliver Moore lifts Blackhawks to shootout victory on 21st birthday: 'Got beat up. Won a hockey game.'

RALEIGH, N.C. — Blackhawks forward Oliver Moore's 21st birthday went the way many 21st birthdays go.

He made some questionable decisions, he experienced waves of good and bad emotions and he ended up bloodied and elated, having lifted the Hawks to a 4-3 shootout victory over the Hurricanes on Thursday.

"It's a good way to ring it in," Moore said. "Got beat up. Won a hockey game. That's all that matters."

In the second period, Moore responded to a big hit on fellow rookie forward Nick Lardis and dropped the gloves with Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin, who has four inches on Moore and quite a bit of a strength advantage.

It went predictably poorly: Moore was leveled in four ruthless punches.

"Obviously I haven't really worked on fighting — you could probably tell — but I just wanted to stand in there for him," Moore said after the game with a gash cut across his right cheek. "I think anyone on our team would do that for anyone. That's the kind of culture we're trying to build in here.

"I knew it was him when I was going to go drop them. He's a big boy, and Russian. I actually talked to him a little bit. He said it was his first fight, too. Can't buy that."

In overtime, Moore turned the puck over and gave the Hurricanes a two-on-one rush, then got a breakaway of his own seconds later, but goalies Spencer Knight and Frederik Andersen made the saves in both directions.

And in the sixth round of a shootout — the Hawks seem to only play marathon shootouts lately — Moore ripped a shot over and past Andersen to give the Hawks their first win against the Hurricanes since 2021.

"It was fitting," coach Jeff Blashill said. "To me, that’s karma. You stick up for your teammate, and you get a chance to finish it and win the game."

Said Moore: "I wanted that [breakaway] back. I was pretty pissed about it. I tried to call my shot on the bench, honestly. We've worked on shootouts a lot, just after practice and stuff. So it was good. It was my first shootout goal in probably seven years."

He also earned an assist earlier in the second period when he used his speed to set up a Lardis goal.

Just like for Moore, there were plenty of highs and lows for the Hawks as a team.

They claimed the lead three times, only to allow an equalizer each time. Even-strength scoring chances favored the Hurricanes 31-14 overall but favored the Hawks 9-8 during the third period and overtime combined.

A high point: Their penalty kill moved into first place in the NHL with a five-for-five showing, including a shorthanded goal by killer extraordinaire Ilya Mikheyev.

A low point: Rookie defenseman Artyom Levshunov struggled, highlighted by an ill-advised pinch — which was obviously ill-advised from the start — that directly enabled the Hurricanes' second goal. He received only five shifts in the third period and overtime combined.

"I didn’t think Arty had his best night, especially early, [and] ice time has to be earned," Blashill said. "He struggled with some of his reads and his decision-making with the puck. His last game was really good, and this game wasn’t. It’s just part of the growing process."

In fact, all of the highs and lows are part of the Hawks' growing process.

Blashill actually talked Thursday morning about how interesting it is to show up every day and witness firsthand "what type of growth or steps forward or steps back" his team might take that day.

But every time this particular Hawks team gets knocked down, they're proving they can always get back up — just like Moore did Thursday. Fifty games into the season, they're still hanging around within striking distance of a wild-card spot at 21-22-7, including 8-5-1 since Christmas.