The Columbus Blue Jackets went toe-to-toe with arguably the best team in the NHL and took them down in a shootout.
Dante Fabbro(2), Kirill Marchenko(7,8), and Dmitri Voronkov(5) scored the goals, and Elvis Merzļikins made 32 saves as the visiting Carolina Hurricanes lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a shootout.
This iteration of the Columbus Blue Jackets plays very well against the elite teams in the NHL, and people have been waiting for years to see these kinds of games from the CBJ. On Saturday night, they did it again.
The Jackets and Hurricanes went back and forth on Saturday night in yet another chaotic game at Nationwide Arena.
Dante Fabbro got the party started just two minutes into the game and then it was on from there. The two teams traded the first six goals of the game before the Canes scored the go-ahead goal with seven minutes left in the third period.
With 1:06 left in the game, and Elvis pulled for the extra attacker, Kirill Marchenko blew the roof off of Nationwide Arena when he took a pass from Sean Monahan and put it past Hurricane goalie Pyotr Kochetkov to tie the game at 4.
The game went to overtime with very few offensive chances for either team. Pyotr Kochetkov was injured when he was run into by a teammate and would leave the game. Former Jacket goalie Spencer Martin came in to finish the overtime period.
The OT period would end without a goal, so off to a shootout they would go. Sean Monahan opened the OT with a goal that would wind up being the game-winner for the CBJ. Elvis Merzļikins stopped all three Hurricane shooters to pick up his 6th win of the season.
The Jackets now have 7 wins at home this season in 10 games. They're tied with two other Metro teams for the most home wins so far this season, and are second to only Toronto in the East.
Dean Evason - "That's a really good hockey team that we played tonight. And we are too."
The "Donkey of the Day" was Kirill Marchenko.
Final Stats
Player Stats
- Dante Fabbro scored his 2nd goal as a Blue Jacket. He now has points in 4 of 6 for the CBJ.
- Kirill Marchenko scored his 7th and 8th goals on the season.
- Dmitri Voronkov scored his 5th goal and has 7 points on the season.
- Cole Sillinger had 7 shots for the game.
- Yegor Chinakhov had 7 shots in the game.
- Zach Werenski recorded his 14th assist and 20th point. He also played 32:17.
- Kent Johnson had 2 assists on the night. He now has 9 points in 6 games played.
- Sean Monahan tallied his 13th assist.
Team Stats
- The Columbus power play went 1/5 on the night.
- The Jackets' penalty kill stopped 3 of 4 Canes man advantages.
- The Jackets only won 39.1% of the faceoffs.
What's Next - The Blue Jackets return home on Wednesday to play the Montreal Canadiens.
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