Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Dominant Win Over Columbus

A terrible start quickly turned into one of the most dominant performances of the season, as the Carolina Hurricanes routed the Columbus Blue Jackets last night by a margin of 7-3.

It simply wouldn’t be a Hurricanes/Blue Jackets game without chaos, right? A couple of offsides challenges, a goalie switch, and six unanswered goals were the story of this game.

The game started terribly for the Canes. Columbus’ Cam Atkinson scored just 26 seconds after the opening faceoff on a nice play with a bit of fancy stick work from Jack Roslovic. Then the Jackets scored again just five minutes later and the Hurricanes found themselves down two goals early.

What followed was a great effort by Carolina and what looked like their first goal from Teuvo Teravainen to bring them within one, but the theme of offsides challenges continued. The goal was called back, and the Canes seemed deflated.

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From this point onward, the Canes slowly crawled their way back through the first period, losing 3-2 at the first intermission, with goals from Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal.

I don’t know what Rod Brind’Amour said in the locker room in the first intermission, but the Carolina Hurricanes looked like they were shot out of a cannon (wink) from the second period to the conclusion of this game. Carolina scored five more goals and blanked Columbus with one of the most impressive performances I have seen out of them in a long time.

There is a ton to take away from this game, so let’s get into it.

Cedric Came to Play

There was quite a bit more attention paid to the Hurricanes’ fourth line in this game, due to the debut of newly acquired center Cedric Paquette.

After a lengthy 13+ hour drive from Ottawa to Raleigh with his dog Moka, you might have assumed Paquette would show signs of lag in his debut; this couldn’t be further from the truth. Paquette didn’t find his way onto the scoresheet in his debut for the Carolina Hurricanes, but he did find his way under Columbus’ skin.

Paquette recorded 11 minutes and 33 seconds of total ice time, 30 seconds of that on the penalty kill. Every second of that, he looked strong and unbothered by such a quick change of scenery. Paquette delivered five crunching hits, one notably to Blue Jackets assistant captain Seth Jones in the neutral zone along the boards.

Cedric Paquette is the type of player the Hurricanes have been sorely missing, and I felt his presence heavily throughout his debut. I believe I speak for plenty of Caniacs when I say I am beyond excited to see him centering the fourth line moving forward.

That being said, keep an especially close eye on him when the Canes play Tampa Bay, Paquette’s former team, on Monday.

The Canes Fought Back

There aren’t many ways that you can start a hockey game much worse than Carolina did against Columbus. Two goals against in the first six minutes, a fantastic save from the opposing goalie, and your first goal being called back due to an offside coach’s challenge is enough to take the wind out of any team’s sails. But if anything, the Canes used the rescinded goal as a spark.

The Canes and Jackets traded goals through the rest of the first, after Sebastian Aho fired a laser through traffic, off the post, and past Joonas Korpisalo.

Columbus would get a goal back right as their power play expired when James Reimer seemed to lose track of an arching rebound, and was promptly batted home by Kevin Stenlund.

The period was concluded with a late scrappy goal from Jordan Staal off of a great play from Warren Foegele and Jake Bean.

From the second period on, Carolina looked elite, and they scored at will. Puck movement was a delight to watch, the power play went 2/2, defensive breakdowns were few and far between, and James Reimer got back to his game, finishing with 37 saves on 40 shots.

The Carolina Hurricanes improved to 10-3-0, and are currently sitting in a three-way tie for second place in a competitive Central Division.

The mental fortitude of the Hurricanes is visibly improving, and I am excited to see what this group can do for the remainder of the home stand.