The NHL saw fit to schedule the Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets for four straight games midway through the season. Overkill, perhaps, but the schedule.
The first of the four was played Thursday at PNC Arena and was a typical Canes-Jackets game, with bodies colliding, open ice hard to find and the intensity level pretty high.
The game was so evenly played that it went to overtime, and Seth Jones’ second goal of the game, with 50.4 seconds left, won it for Columbus 3-2.
Jones’ winner came after Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo stopped a breakaway by Martin Necas and then a shot from the slot from Andrei Svechnikov. The Blue Jackets (12-12-7) then converted a two-on-one rush as Jones ripped a shot past Alex Nedeljkovic.
Sebastian Aho scored twice for the Hurricanes (20-7-2), his 12th and 13th of the season, and Dougie Hamilton now has a 10-game point streak, one shy of the franchise record for defensemen.
Jones scored the only goal of the first period, and the Blue Jackets’ Kevin Stenlund tied the score for Columbus in the second.
The Canes had an indifferent first period, falling behind 1-0 as Jones scored off a rebound for the Blue Jackets and Columbus pressured Nedeljkovic much of the period.
The Canes were a different team in the second, tying the score 51 seconds into the period on Aho’s first goal and moving in front 2-1 as Aho scored on the power play off a Martin Necas pass.
The Canes were jumping and nearly made if 3-1 as forward Warren Foegele, looking at an open net, was stymied on a shot by a scrambling Korpisalo.
But a penalty on the Canes’ Brett Pesce stalled Carolina’s momentum late in the second. Columbus didn’t score on the power play but Stenlund, unchecked for a shot, tied it a few seconds after the power play expired.
