The Blue Jackets' record now stands at 38-26-12 with 88 points. They're currently 4th in the Metro, 10th in the East, and 13th in the NHL. They're also now tied with three other teams in points but sit two spots out of the wild card.
Denton Mateychuk (13) scored the only goal for the Blue Jackets in a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 16 of 21 Carolina shots in the loss.
This one was ugly. I know we've said that a lot the last 6 or 7 games, but this one was not pretty.
First Period - SOG 9-2 Hurricanes - No CBJ Goals
Logan Stankoven wasted no time putting the Hurricanes up in the first. He tipped a shot past Merzlikins at the 2:27 mark to put the Canes up by one. Merzlikins had no shot at stopping the tip-in, as it was nearly impossible to do so.
At the 8:52 mark, Stankoven would score what ended up being the game-winner by putting a puck in an empty net. Old vet Taylor Hall drove the net, but just before he got to Elvis, he slid the puck through the crease into a crowd of players, where Stankoven was Johnny on the spot. It is Stankovens 17th goal of the season.
Alexander Nikishin would add a shorthanded goal with just over seven minutes to play in the first period to push it to 3-0. While in their offensive zone and on the power play, Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov partially fanned on a one-timer that was immediately gathered up and gave the Hurricanes an odd-man advantage. Nikishin snapped a shot past Merzlikins, who seemed to be completely lost on that play, and a shot he'll definitely want back.
The Blue Jackets' offense would be nonexistent in the first period and could only generate two shots.
Second Period - SOG 6-4 Hurricanes - CBJ Goal Mateychuk
The Blue Jackets started the second period like they did the first, slow and discombobulated. They weren't able to get any shots on Frederik Andersen and made his job easy. Denton Mateychuk, however, would give the Blue Jackets some life when he scored his 13th goal of the season. Miles Wood would let a shot go from the point that ended up bouncing around. With Denton Mateychuk cheating towards the net, he was able to stuff it in to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Hurricanes were apparently upset about the goal and struck back just 13 seconds later. Jordan Martinook took a pass from Jordan Staal and ripped it from just inside the blue line, sneaking it past Merzlikins. Nikolaj Ehlers was passing in front of Elvis, so it's possible the shot was screened just a bit. The score would be 4-1 at that point.
The Blue Jackets managed just four shots in the period.
Third Period - SOG 6-4 Hurricanes - No CBJ Goals
The third period was more of the same, with the Hurricanes giving the Blue Jackets absolutely nothing to work with.
Andrei Svechnikov would score a power play goal 6:44 into the third to add more salt to the Jackets' wounds. Carolina played tic-tac-toe to smoke a goal past a helpless Merzlikins.
The Jackets would garner a total of 10 shots on goal in this game. Only two shots were put on goal by forwards, which is the fewest in a single game in NHL history.
Quotes
- Rick Bowness - "Tonight, we got what we deserved. Give (Carolina) credit, they certainly outplayed us and outworked us for the most part. But we'll get it back."
- Rick Bowness - "We had some guys out there give us, poured their whole heart and soul in tonight's game. We really did. And then we had some guys give us absolutely nothing."
- Bowness - "If we want to make a serious effort to get in, it's gonna take a whole lot more than some of those guys gave us tonight. They can say all they want -- 'We want to get in; we want to get in.' I'd shut up and let my play do my talking for me."
Final Stats
CBJ APP Player Stats & Notes
- Denton Mateychuk scored his 13th goal of the season and had two shots on goal.
- Boone Jenner recorded his 24th assist and had one shot.
- Isac Lundestrom tallied his 8th assist and was a plus-1.
- Zach Werenski played 22:12 and had zero shots.
Team Stats
- The Jackets went 0/3 on the power play.
- The Columbus PK gave up one goal on two Hurricane man advantages.
- Columbus won 39.5% of the faceoffs - 17/43
- The Blue Jackets had 18 hits and 14 blocks.
Next Up For Columbus: The Blue Jackets are back home on Saturday to take on the Winnipeg Jets.
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