Blue Jackets top Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout after overtime drama
Better settle in. All four games figure to be the same.
The Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets only can play it one way, apparently: Tight.
So it went Saturday, and so it now has gone in the first two games of this four-game set, both needing more than 60 minutes to settle it.
The Blue Jackets won Saturday in a shootout, 3-2.
But only after Seth Jones tried the score 2-2 with 28.4 seconds left in regulation. Only after the Canes had an apparent winning power-play goal by Dougie Hamilton wiped out after a review and the ruling that Andrei Svechnikov preceded the puck into the zone and was offside.
“It’s bad, you know. We were so close,” said Svechnikov, who scored the Canes’ first goal. “We were up 2-1 and they score. And it was kind of my fault in overtime. I went offside. I should have been patient.”
Patrik Laine and Oliver Bjorkstrand had the shootout goals for Columbus (13-12-7), Borkstrand ending it in the fourth round after Laine had scored in the third round to extend it. Hamilton had the lone shootout goal for the Canes (20-7-3), who had won their last 10 shootouts and had not lost one since a 6-5 loss to Washington on Dec. 14, 2018.
Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins had robbed Martin Necas of a game-winning goal in the overtime, gloving a shot after a crisp move from his right to left after Sebastian Aho’s setup pass. Hamilton then found the net on the 4-on-3 power play, but that was overruled.
Warren Foegele’s goal with 4:13 left in the the third period pushed the Canes ahead 2-1. Foegele crashed the net, banged the puck past Merzlikins and then tumbled to the ice on an all-effort kind of play.
But after the Blue Jackets pulled Merzlikins for a sixth attacker, Jones unloaded from the top of the circle.
Svechnikov’s second-period goal, also on a rebound, gave the Canes a 1-0 lead. Bjorkstrand tied it for the Blue Jackets in the opening minute of the third with a shot that glanced off a player in front of James Reimer.
Hamilton’s assist on the Foegele score gave him points in 11 straight games, tying the franchise record for defensemen set by Mark Howe in 1980.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour called the game a “grind,” which was a good description.
“It’s a mental grind,” he said. “You’ve got to stick to your game, you can’t open up. We had the game won. Unfortunately things just didn’t work out. Crazy ending in that overtime.
“Every time something bad happened we bounced back. In overtime, I thought we were really good. We had a bunch of good looks. Their goalie played really well.”
The Blue Jackets won 3-2 Thursday in overtime after 60 minutes of tight-checking, physical play. It was more of the Saturday. Both teams took away time and space, clogged the neutral zone, blocked shots and put sticks on sticks in front of their net defensively.
Svechnikov’s goal, his first 5-on-5 score since Feb. 4, came in the second period after Jordan Staal won a draw in the Columbus zone. During a puck battle to the side of the net, the puck bounced out to defenseman Brett Pesce, who fired a shot.
Svechnikov batted the puck in the net, then broke into a relieved smile. His recent scoring slump — two goals in 21 games before Saturday — had been frustrating for a player who expects so much from himself.
A look back
There are pluses and minuses to playing the same team four straight times, Foegele said Saturday.
The Canes and Blue Jackets matched up for a second time Saturday at PNC Arena, and they’ll see each other two more times in Columbus this week.
“I think you treat it like every other game,” Foegele said after the morning skate at PNC Arena. “The pluses are you try to find their weaknesses each game and try to make adjustments and try to capitalize on that.
“Minuses? I don’t know if there are any minuses. Just that sometimes it’s annoying playing the same team but that’s the year we have right now.”
Annoying is one word to describe the Blue Jackets (12-12-7) as an opponent. They’re competitive, they’re combative, much like their coach, John Tortorella. They’re also looking to grind their way into playoff position in the Central Division, where the top four teams advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Annoying? For Foegele, that was seeing Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo make a spectacular save on a Foegele shot Thursday. With Korpisalo down in the crease, Foegele had an open net but Korpisalo somehow stretched out to get his stick on Foegele’s shot and stop it.
The Canes were leading 2-1. A Foegele goal could have been a backbreaker for Columbus, but the Blue Jackets tied the score and won in overtime 3-2.
“He’s a good goalie. He’s made that save, I don’t know, that’s his fourth time in the last two weeks on making the exact same save,” Foegele said. “You put it away and you focus on the next game and you hope you get one on him next time.”
The lineup
Other than in net, Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour didn’t change anything from Thursday. Same lineup, same lines, same defensive pairings.
Goalie James Reimer got his 17th start of the season after Alex Nedeljkovic started Thursday. Reimer had a four-game win streak end Tuesday in the 4-2 loss at Detroit.
Brind’Amour said there were no further updates on those who are injured: center Vincent Trocheck (upper body), forward Teuvo Teravainen (concussion) and goalie Petr Mrazek (thumb). None was at Saturday’s morning skate.
Milestone for Waddell
Canes president and general manager Don Waddell will mark his 1,000th game as an NHL executive Saturday.
“He’s been good because he’s easy to talk to and there’s good communication that way,” Brind’Amour said Saturday. “It doesn’t feel like he’s the boss. He makes it feel like he’s one of us, so to speak. I think that’s been real positive around here and I think he’s been great. A thousand games is a big deal.”
Waddell previously was president and general manager of the Atlanta Thrashers. He first served as the Hurricanes’ president before also taking on the dual job of president and GM in May 2018. The Canes have reached the playoffs the past two seasons.
“He’s done a lot of hard work to get this group where it should be and where it needs to be,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said Saturday. “He’s been a big part of our success this season.
This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 6:39 PM.
