Teuvo Teravainen steps up his play while the Chicago Blackhawks continue to struggle

CHICAGO (AP) — Teuvo Teravainen has been a calming presence for the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks in the first season of his second stint with the team.

In a noticeable way, according to Jason Dickinson, one of Teravainen's linemates.

“I feel I try to bring a level of calmness out there, but he brings another level that like once he gets it, I'm like ‘Ah, OK, he’ll make a play. We'll be OK,'” Dickinson said.

Shrugging off a slow start, Teravainen has been one of Chicago's best players for the past month. The 30-year-old winger has four goals and 16 assists in his last 17 games. He had two assists in the Blackhawks' surprising 5-3 victory over Vegas on Saturday night.

Teravainen faced his former team on Monday night, and he was kept off the scoresheet in a 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina. Teravainen, who was selected for Finland's roster for next month's 4 Nations Face-Off, played for the Hurricanes for eight seasons before agreeing to a $16.2 million, three-year contract with the Blackhawks in free agency.

Chicago visits Carolina on Jan. 30.

“Just a lot of good memories,” Teravainen said, looking back on his time with the Hurricanes. “We had the same group of guys there I feel like for a long time, so I get to know them really good. A lot of Finns over there at the time, too, so it was fun.”

Teravainen was once considered one of Chicago’s top prospects. He was selected in the first round of the 2012 draft and made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in 2014.

He helped the Blackhawks win the 2015 Stanley Cup, but he was traded to Carolina in June 2016 to entice the Hurricanes to take Bryan Bickell’s contract off the Blackhawks’ salary cap.

Teravainen turned into a strong complementary forward in Carolina, benefiting from the Hurricanes' aggressive style. He scored a career-high 25 goals and registered 28 assists in his final season with the team. He had a career-best 55 assists during the 2018-19 season.

“He was a great Hurricane for us,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I think the skill level, he's one of the more talented players. ... Whatever the situation you put him in, he's probably the smartest guy out there.”

Teravainen has skated in the playoffs in eight of his 12 NHL seasons, but he hasn't made it back to the Stanley Cup since his rookie year. Carolina lost in the Eastern Conference Final in 2019 and 2023.

Teravainen described the Hurricanes as “a high pressure team.”

“They're trying to make the other team make some mistakes,” he said, “and whenever they get those turnovers, they're going to make you pay. When you do it over and over, it's going to be tough to play against.”

Teravainen struggled at the beginning of his Chicago sequel. He had three goals and three assists in a span of 25 games before his recent run. He has been helped of late by playing on a line with the steady Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev.

“With this line, we've been playing some really good games,” he said before the loss to the Hurricanes. “I feel like we're finding some tough matchups, but we're doing a pretty good job against the top lines.”

While Teravainen has picked up his play, Chicago is well on its way to another losing season. It is just 7-16-2 in its last 25 games.

But Teravainen's value for the Blackhawks goes beyond his numbers.

“His poise stands out. ... Yeah, he's really good there and can handle pressure,” interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “He's assertive and knows where pressure's coming from and he puts his body into good spots, so he's able to control the puck in those situations. Yeah, he's a good example for young guys to learn how to kind of deal with those situations.”

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

Chicago Blackhawks center Teuvo Teravainen (86) warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Chicago, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Blackhawks center Teuvo Teravainen warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Chicago, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Blackhawks center Teuvo Teravainen warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Chicago, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Blackhawks center Teuvo Teravainen warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Chicago, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Blackhawks center Teuvo Teravainen warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Chicago, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Blackhawks center Teuvo Teravainen (86) celebrates his goal on the Edmonton Oilers during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The announcement was made Friday by the U.S. military. The Trump administration has been targeting sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by U.S. Marines and Navy, taking part in the monthslong buildup of forces in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.

Navy officials couldn’t immediately provide details about whether the Coast Guard was part of the force that took control of the vessel as has been the case in the previous seizures. A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard said there was no immediate comment on the seizure.

The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of a broader effort by Trump’s administration to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

The latest:

Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, says a documentary film about first lady Melania Trump will make its premiere later this month, posting a trailer on X.

As the Trumps prepared to return to the White House last year, Amazon Prime Video announced a year ago that it had obtained exclusive licensing rights for a streaming and theatrical release directed by Brett Ratner.

Melania Trump also released a self-titled memoir in late 2024.

Some artists have canceled scheduled Kennedy Center performances after a newly installed board voted to add President Donald Trump’s to the facility, prompting Grenell to accuse the performers of making their decisions because of politics.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says that she has asked her foreign affairs secretary to reach out directly to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Trump regarding comments by the American leader that the U.S. cold begin ground attacks against drug cartels.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News aired Thursday night, Trump said, “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water and we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch.”

As she has on previous occasions, Sheinbaum downplayed the remarks, saying “it is part of his way of communicating.” She said she asked her Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente to strengthen coordination with the U.S.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s offer to send U.S. troops after Mexican drug cartels. She emphasizes that there will be no violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, but the two governments will continue to collaborate closely.

Analysts do not see a U.S. incursion in Mexico as a real possibility, in part because Sheinbaum’s administration has been doing nearly everything Trump has asked and Mexico is a critical trade partner.

Trump says he wants to secure $100 billion to remake Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, a lofty goal going into a 2:30 meeting on Friday with executives from leading oil companies. His plan rides on oil producers being comfortable in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

The president has said that the U.S. will control distribution worldwide of Venezuela’s oil and will share some of the proceeds with the country’s population from accounts that it controls.

“At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Trump is banking on the idea that he can tap more of Venezuela’s petroleum reserves to keep oil prices and gasoline costs low.

At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

Trump is expected to meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday.

He hopes to secure $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s oil industry. The goal rides on the executives’ comfort with investing in a country facing instability and inflation.

Since a U.S. military raid captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has said there’s a new opportunity to use the country’s oil to keep gasoline prices low.

The full list of executives invited to the meeting has not been disclosed, but Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are expected to attend.

Attorneys general in five Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration after it said it would freeze money for several public benefit programs.

The Trump administration has cited concerns about fraud in the programs designed to help low-income families and their children. California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois and New York states filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit asks the courts to order the administration to release the funds. The attorneys general have called the funding freeze an unconstitutional abuse of power.

Iran’s judiciary chief has vowed decisive punishment for protesters, signaling a coming crackdown against demonstrations.

Iranian state television reported the comments from Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei on Friday. They came after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized Trump’s support for the protesters, calling Trump’s hands “stained with the blood of Iranians.”

The government has shut down the internet and is blocking international calls. State media has labeled the demonstrators as “terrorists.”

The protests began over Iran’s struggling economy and have become a significant challenge to the government. Violence has killed at least 50 people, and more than 2,270 have been detained.

Trump questions why a president’s party often loses in midterm elections and suggests voters “want, maybe a check or something”

Trump suggested voters want to check a president’s power and that’s why they often deliver wins for an opposing party in midterm elections, which he’s facing this year.

“There’s something down, deep psychologically with the voters that they want, maybe a check or something. I don’t know what it is, exactly,” he said.

He said that one would expect that after winning an election and having “a great, successful presidency, it would be an automatic win, but it’s never been a win.”

Hiring likely remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces, though the job gains may be enough to bring down the unemployment rate.

December’s jobs report, to be released Friday, is likely to show that employers added a modest 55,000 jobs, economists forecast. That figure would be below November’s 64,000 but an improvement after the economy lost jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to slip to 4.5%, according to data provider FactSet, from a four-year high of 4.6% in November.

The figures will be closely watched on Wall Street and in Washington because they will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

FILE - President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)