Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Tough Loss to Columbus
The Carolina Hurricanes dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker Monday night at Nationwide Arena, allowing a highlight-reel go-ahead goal from Jack Roslovic with under five minutes to play to fall to 7-3-0 on the young season.
Alex Nedeljkovic took a tough-luck loss in his first start of the 2021 season, stopping 19 shots in the process.
The Hurricanes never led in the game, but through 40 minutes had an answer for every Blue Jackets marker. Late in the first period, a Scott Harrington shot that was going well wide bounced off Andrei Svechnikov‘s backside and into the net for a 1-0 lead. Nedeljkovic nearly dove and stopped it anyway, but was just a split second late and the puck had inched over the goal line.
The Canes responded well after the first intermission, and Nino Niederreiter countered with a fortunate bounce of his own 6:19 into the middle frame. Teuvo Teravainen won a board battle and sent the puck towards the front of the net, and while Columbus goaltender Joonas Korpisalo tried to aggressively poke check the puck away (Nedeljkovic must have motivated him), the puck bounced off El Nino’s leg and into the net for his fifth goal on the young season.
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Shortly after, a strange penalty shot was awarded to Columbus’ Cam Atkinson – on a play on Columbus’ side of the red line, with Dougie Hamilton about even with him, bringing the “in the clear” question into focus – and the perennial thorn-in-the-side of the Hurricanes made a pretty deke and tucked it past an outstretched Nedeljkovic to hand a 2-1 lead to the home squad.
However, the Hurricanes again had an equalizer as Brock McGinn knocked home a rebound barely two minutes later, continuing his solid play on the young season. It was McGinn’s fourth goal in five games.
The Canes struggled to find the go-ahead marker, twice ringing the post on shots from Sebastian Aho and McGinn that would have staked them to a 3-2 lead.
Instead, with the score still tied late, Roslovic caught a pass near center ice, gaining the Hurricanes’ zone 1-on-2 against Brett Pesce and Ryan Dzingel, who both seemed to expect each other to be more aggressive playing the body. Instead, both listlessly waved at the puck. Roslovic split them, pulled the puck between his legs to get in alone on the Carolina goaltender, then quickly deked to his backhand to open Nedeljkovic up before sliding the puck five-hole for the game winner.
Although the result was not ideal, there were still some positive takeaways from the process for the Carolina Hurricanes. Here’s what I saw in game #10.