2022-23 Regular Season, Game 40: Hurricanes (25-8-6) at Columbus Blue Jackets

The Canes officially are on a losing streak after dropping their second straight in regulation after their 11-game win streak. It's only the second time this season they've lost consecutive games in regulation, the first time coming two months ago. It's not like they had a bad night against the Predators on Thursday night. They put a franchise-record 67 shots on Juuse Saros and though they held the lead three times, they were unable to hold on to their leads and allowed Nashville to hang around. Eventually, Nashville would find themselves in the lead and Saros shut the door, making 64 saves as Nashville won 5-3. Paul Stastny, Brady Skjei, and Jordan Staal put the puck in the net for the Canes and Pyotr Kochetkov made 20 saves in the loss. It was also a big night because Max Pacioretty put on a Canes sweater for the first time after missing the first 38 games with an Achilles injury. He looked really good, putting six shots on Saros in just over 16 minutes. At the end of it all, it wasn't enough to get the job done as many fans had flashbacks to the dark days when this was a regular occurrence. The team is still in a very good spot and they have a chance to rebound this afternoon as they travel to Ohio for their second meeting of the season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Projected Lines/Pairings 

Max Pacioretty-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Andrei Svechnikov-Paul Stastny-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Teuvo Teravainen-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Jalen Chatfield-Dylan Coghlan

Antti Raanta

Pyotr Kochetkov

Injuries/Scratches- Stefan Noesen (lower-body injury), Calvin de Haan (healthy)

IR- Frederik Andersen (lower-body injury), Ondrej Kase (LTIR- concussion)

For the first time in a while, the lineup is going to see some noticeable changes. After a good debut, Max Pacioretty is going to play on the first line with Aho and Jarvis, moving Teuvo Teravainen down to the fourth line with Kotkaniemi and Stepan. Dylan Coghlan will play his first game since his two-point game in place of Calvin de Haan. Antti Raanta will get the start in the net as he looks to improve his winning streak.

Tonight's Opponent: Columbus Blue Jackets (11-24-2, 24 Points, 8th in the Metropolitan Division)

It's been a while since we've seen the Blue Jackets and things are not going well for them. They really haven't been going well all season. Their 24 points are the third-fewest in the league to this point as they continue to make a strong bid for the top overall pick. The health of their team has not helped matters. While Patrik Laine has recently returned from injury, they are likely to be without Zach Werenski and Jakub Voracek for the rest of the season, former Hurricane Jake Bean is out long-term after surgery to repair a torn labrum, and both Yegor Chinakov and captain Boone Jenner are out for a few more weeks. The product on the ice has suffered as a result. They are bottom three in the league in both goals scored and allowed. Johnny Gaudreau is the only player scoring consistently. He's tied for the team lead in goals with Jenner (11) and is miles ahead of his teammates with 38 points as he's been chosen as the team's All-Star representative. The goaltending has been abysmal. Elvis Merlikins has the worst SV% and highest GAA of any goalie to play in the league this season, regardless of the number of games. Both Joonas Korpisalo and Daniil Tarasov have allowed a lot of goals, but their save percentages are both fairly decent. They were on the wrong side of a 6-2 decision to the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. Gaudreau opened the scoring with the only goal of the first period before the Capitals scored four times in the second and twice more in the third while Columbus managed just one more from Gavin Beyreuther, his first of the season. Merlikins stopped 31 shots in the loss. This game will be the first half of a back-to-back for the Blue Jackets and the first of two meetings in Columbus for these two teams over the next six days. 

Last Meeting v. Carolina: The two teams met on opening night when the season was a blank slate. Neither team scored in the first period before Laine opened the scoring 11 seconds into the second. It was all Carolina from there. Seth Jarvis and Brady Skjei each scored in the middle period to give the Canes the lead at the break. Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov scored in the third period and Frederik Andersen was a brick wall, stopping 31 shots, as the Canes opened the season with a 4-1 victory. Necas had three points in the game to jump-start what has turned into an excellent season to this point. Daniil Tarasov got the surprise start for Columbus and made 39 saves in the loss. 

Columbus' Starting Goalie: Jonas Korpisalo (5-7-1, 3.13 GAA, .911 SV%)- Though all three goalies have seen a fair amount of action, Columbus will turn to the man they’ve played the most this afternoon. He’s played well in his last five appearances, allowing seven goals on 127 shots. His last outing was a 30-save performance in a loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. This will be the  15th appearance against the Canes in his career, his most against any team. He’s amassed a 6-4-3 record with a .894 SV% and 3.06 GAA.

Columbus Player to Watch: Vladislav Gavrikov- With the Columbus defensive group in shambles right now with all of the injuries they're having to endure, someone needs to step up. That is where Gavrikov can fill the void. He's averaging over 22:30 per game, second on the team to Werenski, and is going to need to eat up some minutes with the All-Star defender likely done for the season. He hasn't scored a point in ten games and he's still the second-highest-scoring defenseman on the team with nine points. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

None

2nd Period

(CBJ) 7:26- Kirill Marchenko (6) PP (assisted by Kent Johnson (9) & Marcus Bjork (8))

(CBJ) 9:02- Kirill Marchenko (7) PP (assisted by Kent Johnson (10) & Emil Bemstrom (5))

(CAR) 11:20- Max Pacioretty (1) (assisted by Seth Jarvis (14) & Brady Skjei (10))

(CAR) 17:18- Brady Skjei (8) PP (assisted by Paul Stastny (11))

(CAR) 18:56- Max Pacioretty (2) PP (assisted by Andrei Svechnikov (15) & Sebastian Aho (19))

3rd Period

(CBJ) 5:23- Kirill Marchenko (8) (assisted by Cole Sillinger (5))

Overtime

None

Shootout

1. Kirill Marchenko scored against Antti Raanta

2. Brent Burns was stopped by Joonas Korpisalo

3. Patrik Laine scored against Antti Raanta

4. Andrei Svechnikov scored against Joonas Korpisalo

5. Johnny Gaudreau was stopped by Antti Raanta

6. Teuvo Teravainen scored against Joonas Korpisalo

7. Gustav Nyquist was stopped by Antti Raanta

8. Max Pacioretty was stopped by Joonas Korpisalo

9. Kent Johnson scored against Antti Raanta

10. Martin Necas was stopped by Joonas Korpisalo

Let's Talk About the Game

As is the case for most losses, there are two main schools of thought. On the surface, the Canes outshot the Blue Jackets by a ton, yet still managed to lose to the worst team in the division. Not only did they lose but they also allowed a hat trick. Even with the discrepancy in shots, they were outplayed for large portions of the game, including the entire third period. They blew another lead after entering the third up by a goal, similar to the ending against the Rangers on Tuesday night. On the flip side of the coin, the Canes earned a point in a game that they probably didn't deserve to get one in. For as well as Columbus played against them, the Canes managed to at least earn a point to remain four points ahead of New Jersey in the division after they beat the Rangers in overtime today. While they were unable to finish the job in the shootout, they managed to make a bad game look decent against their record. Losing your third game in a row isn't ideal but at least get a point out of it. 

This game will likely be remembered as the Kirill Marchenko Game. After the two sides went scoreless in the first period and neither team was able to capitalize on the power play, Kirill Marchenko scored twice on the power play just 1:36 apart on two very different plays. The first goal was all about speed as he beat the Canes around the corner and Antti Raanta wasn't able to get back to cover the post as Marchenko buried the wrap-around. The second goal was a bit of a broken play as Kent Johnson picked up his second assist by finding an empty spot to let Marchenko slap it under the arm of Raanta to make it 2-0. At this point in the game, the Canes seemed dead. The had the edge in shots, as they would the entire game, but Columbus was well in control of things. It took a little bit of puck luck for the Canes to get back into the game. When looking at the replay, this puck was going to go very wide of the net. Fortunately for Max Pacioretty, all that matters is that it went into the net. Pacioretty shot the puck on his backhand and after it hit Vladislav Gavrikov in the leg, it fluttered over the shoulder of Joonas Korpisalo to cut the deficit to just one goal. The power play got its chance to shine at the end of the period. After a clearing attempt for Columbus hit the stick of Paul Stastny, it fell into no man's land. There to pick it up was Brady Skjei and he wired one over the glove of Korpisalo to tie the game. One minute later, they'd get their chance to do it again and the first unit answered the call. The Canes worked the puck around the perimeter before Andrei Svechnikov put the puck on the tape of Pacioretty. He snapped one that broke the stick of Gavrikov and beat Korpisalo on the short side to give the Canes their first lead of the night. They managed to take a game that looked very bad at one point and turned it into a 3-2 lead through two periods. 

The third period was a very low-event period and while Columbus only got four shots on the net, one of them would be costly. Marchenko, after winning a race against Svechnikov, found some daylight and slid the puck between the legs of Raanta to complete the first hat trick of his career. Raanta was screened on the play but his pads were wide open. That's a shot you really want saved. The Blue Jackets contained to control the flow of the period, playing a lot more physically, denying the Canes any chance of getting their lead back. The Canes would earn a power play at the end of regulation and they were unable to get anything going as the two teams decided to settle things with a little more hockey. After Columbus killed the remaining seconds of the penalty, the two sides would proceed to play 4-on-4 hockey for 4:55 of the overtime without a single whistle. The Canes had a couple of decent chances to score but they were unable to score as the game went to a shootout. Things couldn't have started better for the Blue Jackets in the shootout. Both Marchenko and Patrik Laine beat Raanta with shots under the glove. Svechnikov would get the Canes on the board and after Johnny Gaudreau rang the crossbar, Teuvo Teravainen got one to squeak through Korpisalo to extend things. Neither Gustav Nyquist not Pacioretty were able to score and in round five, Johnson added to his great night with a beautiful shootout goal on the backhand. With a chance to extend things on his stick, Martin Necas ran out of room low as Korpisalo forced him wide to secure the second point over the division leaders. 

Unlike the loss to Nashville on Thursday night, it feels like there are more negatives than positives with this loss. It's not just that Columbus has the third-fewest points in the league. It's that the Canes outshot them by so much and were tied at the end of regulation. It's that the Canes didn't seem to have a discernable edge in the third period for the third game in a row. It's that the Canes seemed to play down to their opponent once again. Despite all of these things, the Canes got a point. Pacioretty scored his first two goals as a Hurricane. Skjei continued his hot streak with another goal. The Canes are still in a very good spot but games like this can't become the norm.

My Three Stars of the Night

Third Star- Seth Jarvis (Assist)

For the rest of time, Jarvis will be remembered as the first player to earn a primary assist on Pacioretty's first goal as a Hurricane. While Pacioretty also starts the play, Jarvis put the shot on the net that allowed the newest member of the team to get his first goal. I thought he played a solid game overall, tying for the team lead with four shots and laying two hits. 

Second Star- Max Pacioretty (2 Goals)

In just two games, Pacioretty has managed to be in my three stars twice. Tonight, he did it by getting on the boards twice to earn his first two goals as a Hurricane. He probably owes Vladislav Gavrikov dinner or something for helping both goals come to fruition. It doesn't matter how pretty they are. It only matters that the puck went into the back of the net. 

First Star- Brady Skjei (Goal, Assist)

It doesn't matter what year the calendar says because Skjei doesn't seem to care. After tearing it up in 2022, he hasn't seemed to slow down in 2023. He has three points in the last two games, including a huge goal on the power play to tie the game late in the second period. He also picked up a secondary assist on the goal from Pacioretty. He and Pesce have turned into the team's most effective pairing. 

What's Next

The season will officially reach its halfway point for the Canes on Tuesday night when they return home for the third meeting against the Devils in three weeks. New Jersey picked up an overtime victory against the Rangers today with Jack Hughes picking up two goals in a three-point effort. New Jersey is just four points behind the Canes and they won't play until they travel to Raleigh. Next week is a busy week for the Canes. After they play New Jersey, they'll be right back in Columbus on Thursday night and play a weekend back-to-back in Raleigh against the Penguins on Saturday night and the Canucks on Sunday night.