Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Heartbreaking OT Loss to Jackets

The Carolina Hurricanes fell in a heartbreaker to the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in overtime at PNC Arena on Thursday night.

Seth Jones sniped one home past Alex Nedeljkovic with 51 seconds left in overtime to give the Jackets the extra point in the first of four games in a row between these two teams. This was another game that just wasn’t a complete effort from Carolina. It seemed the Canes were chasing in parts of the game, and it took them a while to find their legs.

The first period was all Columbus. They controlled the flow of the game and had Carolina on their heels much of the period. No goals were scored until Jones scored his first of the game over 14 minutes in to make it 1-0.

The Canes were much better in the second. They got off the mark early in the period with Nino Niederreiter setting up Sebastian Aho in the slot to knot the score at 1. Aho continues to get to the goal-scoring level we are used to seeing, and the Nino-Aho-Necas line has been fantastic since joining together.

The Canes would then make it 2-1. The powerplay looked better and better as the game went on as well. Dougie Hamilton worked to Martin Necas who found Aho in the slot who buried it past Joonas Korpisalo.

Against the run of play, Columbus tied it late in the second; as their power play expired, Max Domi set up Kevin Stenlund for a one-timer. Things would end 2-2 in the second.

After an even third period, the game headed to OT. The Carolina Hurricanes squeaked out a needed point in their race for first in the Discover Central Division. The Canes certainly had their chances in overtime with a Jaccob Slavin chance in front and a Necas breakaway, but it was Columbus who prevailed on Jones’ second goal of the game late in the OT frame.

Overall, last night’s game makes two performances from the Carolina Hurricanes that they weren’t at their best. They did well to manage a point, but Columbus made things difficult. The absences of Trocheck and Teravainen are possibly starting to become a little more noticeable in the lack of depth scoring at the moment. The Canes will look to bounce back Saturday against the same Columbus team.