The Blue Jackets spent most of Thursday night chasing a game Carolina had already seized.
Columbus fell 3-2 to the Hurricanes, dropping to 5-6-0, after being buried under Carolina pressure for long stretches before a late push nearly flipped the night. Denton Mateychuk and Kent Johnson scored for the Blue Jackets, and Jet Greaves allowed three goals on 27 shots in the loss.
For two periods and 16 seconds, Carolina had the game on its terms. Columbus didn’t really find its footing until after the Hurricanes had built a three-goal cushion, when the Blue Jackets finally started leaning in, drawing three penalties and cutting the deficit to one late in the third. By then, though, the damage had already been done.
The first period opened with a Jake Christiansen trip on Jackson Blake just 3:20 into the night, sending Carolina to the power play. Columbus killed it, but the warning signs were there early.
After a long stretch of back-and-forth play, Jordan Martinook broke through with 4:09 left in the period to put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0. Even with the Blue Jackets surviving the opening frame down only one, the shot and chance numbers told the story of how much time they had spent under siege.
There was a brief flicker of life from Columbus in the second period. The Blue Jackets actually outshot Carolina in the frame, but Logan Stankoven’s ninth goal pushed the Hurricanes in front 2-0 and made the climb feel steep. A two-goal hole against Carolina is a hard place to live, and that’s where the game stood heading to the third.
The Hurricanes made it even tougher 16 seconds into the final period, when Mark Jankowski scored to make it 3-0. At that point, the comeback looked out of reach.
Then Columbus finally started playing like the team it had been waiting to be all night.
Mateychuk scored during 4-on-4 play to get the Blue Jackets on the board, and a little less than three minutes later Kent Johnson buried his seventh of the season on the power play. Suddenly, with 7:24 left, the Blue Jackets had momentum back in their corner. They had also erased a shot deficit that once sat at 16-8, pulling even in the frame as the pressure turned toward Carolina.
But the rally stopped there. The third-period burst made the finish interesting, not enough to save the result.
Mateychuk’s goal was his fourth, and he has now scored in three straight games. Johnson added his seventh, while Zach Werenski picked up his ninth assist and blocked three shots.
Charlie Coyle logged his eighth assist, added three shots, and finished with three hits. Jake Christiansen recorded his second assist and had three shots, and Sean Monahan notched his third assist.
Greaves finished with 24 saves on 27 shots. Columbus went 1-for-3 on the power play, killed both Carolina opportunities, won 51.5% of the faceoffs, and finished with 27 hits and 16 blocks.
The road trip continues in Dallas on Saturday.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Showed Something In Carolina That Fans Will Want Repeated
The Blue Jackets did not leave Carolina with points, but they did leave with something to build on after an early-season road test that got away from them. Columbus fell behind as the Hurricanes controlled the opening and closing stretches, yet the Blue Jackets found a better rhythm as the game went on and started to look more like the team they want to be.
Charlie Coyle pointed to the improved energy in the later periods, which is the kind of detail coaches and teammates can circle after a loss. The challenge now is turning that late push into something more consistent when the schedule moves on, because a good burst in one game only matters if it carries into the next one. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Got Caught In Another Brutal Hurricanes Trend
The Blue Jackets ran into a Carolina team that has been piling up wins at a pace few clubs can match, and the latest meeting fit the pattern. On October 29, the Hurricanes slipped past Columbus 3-2, pushing their season total to 11 victories and keeping them atop the NHL standings with 24 points while extending a five-game point streak.
Pyotr Kochetkov was once again at the center of it for Carolina, continuing a start that has put him in rare franchise company and given the Hurricanes a steady edge in close games. Columbus made a push late, but the bigger picture was familiar: Carolina has been finding ways to control the night early, then lean on its goaltending and structure when opponents try to claw back. [Read more 🡒]