Carolina Hurricanes Show Lots of Heart, Defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in Overtime

Despite losing a 3-0 lead, the Carolina Hurricanes showed the heart and character late to pick up a big 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR PPG (10:09) – Andrej Nestrasil (5), assisted by Elias Lindholm (12), Noah Hanifin (9)

The Carolina Hurricanes struck on their first powerplay of the night. After good puck movement and sustained possession, Lindholm had the puck down low and sent a saucy pass through the crease to Nestrasil, and he ripped a beautiful slap shot past Korpisalo.

2nd Period

CAR Goal (1:27) – Kris Versteeg (6), assisted Eric Staal (18), Justin Faulk (17)

Carolina got the start they needed in the 2nd frame. A great breakout pass from Faulk to Staal led to a good cross-ice pass to Versteeg, who made a good drive to the net and slid it through the five-hole of Korpisalo to make it 2-0.

CAR Goal (7:32) – John-Michael Liles (3), assisted by Andrej Nestrasil (7), Jordan Staal (11)

The Hurricanes kept the ball rolling and extended their lead to 3-0. Liles shot out of a cannon and drove the front of the Columbus net, and he was able to put a loose puck home.

CBJ SHG (15:28) – Cam Atkinson (13), unassisted

Columbus put a dent in Carolina’s lead thanks to a shorthanded breakaway goal from Atkinson. He stole the puck from Faulk after he had trouble handling a puck from Nestrasil at the point, and he was off to the races.

3rd Period

CBJ Goal (4:23) – Alexander Wennberg (4), assisted by Brandon Saad (14), David Savard (15)

Just seconds after the Canes killed off a penalty, the Blue Jackets got the puck in on Ward, and Wennberg won a race to the puck and put it into the Hurricanes net after Cam Ward failed to corral and cover the puck.

CBJ Goal (11:54) – Josh Anderson (1), assisted by Kerby Rychel (4), Brandon Dubinsky (15)

Columbus erased a 3-0 deficit and ties things up just after the half-way point of the 3rd period. Jaccob Slavin couldn’t handle a bouncing puck in front of Ward, and Anderson swooped in, took the puck, and fired it in to the Canes net for his 1st goal in the NHL.

Overtime

CAR Goal (2:45) – Jordan Staal (10), assisted by Jaccob Slavin (5)

The Carolina Hurricanes ended this game with an exclamation point. Jordan Staal walked into the Blue Jackets zone on a 2-on-1, and he rifled a wicked wrist shot into the Columbus net to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 win and a sweep in the home-an-home.

Three Stars

1st Star – Jordan Staal, C (CAR) – 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 1 shot, 20:39 TOI

2nd Star – Josh Anderson, RW (CBJ) – 1 goal, +1, 2 shots, 4 hits, 11:55 TOI

3rd Star – John-Michael Liles, D (CAR) – 1 goal, +1, 2 shots, 21:49 TOI

Recap

An emotional game in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday night featured a mix of great play and bad decisions from the Carolina Hurricanes, but the visiting team escaped with a hugely important 4-3 overtime win over the Blue Jackets.

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Carolina dominated the majority of the opening 40 minutes. They possessed a 3-0 lead over the Blue Jackets in the 2nd period, then a shorthanded breakaway goal from Cam Atkinson put Columbus in the game, and they really gave it to a tired Canes team in the 3rd period.

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A pair of goals from the Jackets ultimately forced overtime between these two teams, and after a tough 3rd period, the Carolina Hurricanes’ chances of pulling out a victory seemed unlikely, but they dug down deep and picked up a very important win.

Jordan Staal capped off another fantastic outing with a 2-on-1 snipe to send the Hurricanes home with a home-and-home sweep over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This game in Ohio wasn’t always pretty for Carolina, especially in the 2nd half of regulation time. The club obviously was tired, and it showed. This was their 4th game in 6 nights after traveling from Edmonton, to Vancouver, back to Raleigh, and then to Columbus. The past week hasn’t been kind to this team, but they pulled out a 2-1-1 record over the trip, which is something to be proud of.

It was yet another stellar performance from Jordan Staal on Saturday. He netted the game-winning goal and picked up an assist on Liles’ 2nd period goal. He now has 3 goals and 3 assists over his last 3 games. He is quickly turning into not only just a dominant player both on offense and defense, but also this team’s best player. He also won 68% of his faceoffs against Columbus.

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Cam Ward struggled at times in net for the Hurricanes. He had his great moments, and he had his troubling mistakes just a night after completely dominating this Blue Jackets team on Friday in Raleigh. Despite his issues, he did enough for this team to win. The bottom line is that he picked up the win tonight.

Carolina Hurricanes

I feel like I say this every night, but this young defense for the Hurricanes continue to just amaze everyone. It was another great game for the likes of Brett Pesce, Noah Hanifin, and Jaccob Slavin. They’ve all had their rookie mistakes, but as a whole, these guys have been remarkable for this team.

There were negatives from this game. Jeff Skinner was unnoticeable for Carolina, and we continue to see how much not having Victor Rask and Phil Di Giuseppe is influencing his play. The Hurricanes also blew a 3-0 lead tonight. They allowed the worst team in the league to claw back and force overtime, but on the flip side of that, the Canes didn’t let the Blue Jackets put in that 4th goal at the end of 3rd or in overtime. This is a tired team that took some shifts off, and they paid for it, but they were able to pull together and out-will the home team in overtime.

At the end of the day, the Hurricanes had the heart and the character to pull out an important win. I’m not confident that this team would have won this game back in October and November. They continue to grow and become a legitimate hockey club.

As of Saturday night, the Carolina Hurricanes are 18-18-7, and they sit just 2 points out of the 8th place spot in the Eastern Conference.

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The Canes will travel back to Raleigh and get a couple much needed days off before they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on home ice on Tuesday night. That, again, is a game that the Hurricanes need to win.