The Carolina Hurricanes saw their three-game win streak snapped last night as they fell 4-3 in a shootout to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Canes tried to rally multiple times, but a lackluster power play was the inevitable demise for the team.

Here are five takeaways from the shootout loss:

There was a lot made about Rod Brind'Amour's shootout choices in last night's loss.

After the first three shooters (Jackson Blake, Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis), the Canes sent out K'Andre Miller, Logan Stankoven and Mark Jankowski, none of whom scored.

I get that the optics of those choices don't look great given that the three have combined for just 18 goals on the season and even more so when some of the more talented players like Sebastian Aho, Nikolaj Ehlers and Taylor Hall didn't get sent out at all.

But really, it's not like this was some egregious oversight by Brind'Amour.

Carolina has just one player who's consistent in shootouts and that's Andrei Svechnikov who is 39% for his career.

Outside of him, the Hurricanes don't really have anybody who has consistently converted in the shootout.

Here are the career percentages for the first three shooters heading into last nights game:

Blake - 2/6 career (2/4 this season)
Svechnikov - 12/32 (1/6)
Jarvis - 2/11 (2/5)

Those three are also the only players who have even scored a shootout goal for the team this year in their seven games that have gone to a shootout.

And after them, things get sort of bleak, so I can understand why Brind'Amour opted for a bit of fresh blood.

The career percentages for the next three skaters that Brind'Amour sent out:

Miller - 1/1
Stankoven - 0/1
Jankowski - 0/2

Those guys haven't necessarily gotten a chance to showcase their talents in a real game before, but the Hurricanes do practice shootouts every practice. 

Every player has had opportunities in practice to showcase moves and Brind'Amour admitted that what he sees in those sessions has some sway on the decision-making process.

I can get behind that line of thinking too, because when you look at the percentages from some of the "more talented" guys that were snubbed for last night's shootout, it's more understandable why you'd opt to roll the dice, in my opinion:

Aho - 6/27 (0/2)
Ehlers - 0/6 (0/1)
Hall - 9/38 (0/1) [Has also scored just one shootout goal in the last eight years]

For as good as the man advantage has been since December (fourth best unit in the league at a 29.5% success rate heading into Thursday's game) it had an all-time dud last night.

The Canes' power play went 0-for-5, but essentially was -1 on the day as they also conceded a shorthanded goal in its first outing, as a K'Andre Miller pass was just a bit too telegraphed, sending Chicago the other way on a 2-on-1.

Carolina had 10 full minutes of power play time against the Blackhawks and managed just five shots on goal.

They had some okay looks, Sebastian Aho had a great chance in the second period off of a rebound from a Seth Jarvis shot, but he was falling and on his backhand, so it was a near impossible task.

The team is also missing it's top power play quarterback in Shayne Gostisbehere who's been sidelined for the last four games due to lingering injury struggles.

But it's not like the Blackhawks have a bad kill, in fact, they now have the best shorthanded percentage in the entire league.

"It wasn't great tonight," said Jordan Staal. "It's a great penalty kill, for one, I think they're one of the top in the league. We just weren't very sharp. We were trying to make plays that we probably weren't supposed to be doing and a few off-cue passes and a bouncy puck and the next thing you know, they killed all of them. That definitely hurt us tonight."

They made it hard for Carolina to get much penetration to the inside and they were very active in jumping passes and getting sticks into lanes.

While the Canes certainly made the game interesting, the failure to make a positive impact on the power play is what ultimately sunk them.

"It was a tough night for those guys," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "We did have some good looks, just we didn't bury them. And then you can't give up a shorty in a tight game. When you look back, that's probably the difference."

The Canes' top line has been very good as of late, but they weren't at their best on Thursday.

They weren't necessarily bad, but just not as effective as we've seen them.

The trio of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis didn't get it done at 5v5, managing just three high-danger chances while also being on the ice for a goal against.

And that also kind of bled into the power play too I feel, as there just wasn't enough oomph out there from the guys the Canes.

"Wasn't a great game by our top guys, a couple of non-factors, but that's more probably on the power play stuff," Brind'Amour said. "When they're out there, we have to make it count."

Joel Nystrom and Alexander Nikishin shared in the honor of a couple of NHL firsts on Thursday, just on very different sides of the spectrum.

Nystrom registered his first career goal, netting the Canes' first of the game on a nice wrister from the left circle, and Nikishin had his first NHL fight, bloodying Chicago forward Oliver Moore.

"Well, you know, we're learning some new things about [Nikishin]," Brind'Amour said. "He can obviously handle himself if need be. We don't necessarily want to see him doing that a lot, but obviously he can handle himself. Good to see."

The two have been a steady pair for the Hurricanes for a large part of the season and there's been a lot of positive growth seen from both.

There are growing pains as will be the case with any rookie, but they both have promising careers in front of them.

"Nys' been great all season long," Staal said. "He's stepped up and played a lot of minutes, especially early there and has played really well. He's fit in nicely with the group and he's gotten a ton of chances and a ton of shots on net. Kept telling him it was math and one was bound to go in for him if he kept shooting the puck, so it nice to see him get one. He acted like he's done it before and I'm sure he will again."

While the Canes trailed on three separate occasions on Thursday, they actually were only behind for 7:01 of actual game time.

The Hurricanes never managed to find a lead yesterday, but they were always good about those bump up shifts and responding the right way.

It isn't always going to go your way, but the Hurricanes' game is built on staying consistent and it was positive to see them not getting panicky.

Especially with that late Chicago goal with 6:22 to go in regulation.

That one felt like it could have been a big deflator, but 42 seconds later, Jackson Blake pops home a feed off of a great Logan Stankoven play and the Canes were back in it.

It's always about that next shift.

"It was tough," Brind'Amour said. "Get down, but they just kept playing. A good play by Stanks there to get us right back in the game and get us a point."

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