National Hockey League
Carolina 4, Columbus 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, March 25, 2021
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Referees: Mitch Dunning, Justin St. Pierre
Linesmen: Julien Fournier, Trent Knorr
Attendance: 4033

Carolina's Martin Necas scored a goal and assisted on Sebastian Aho's game-winner at 1:26 of overtime in the Hurricanes' 4-3 win over the host Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

Necas broke in on a one-on-one battle with Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski, then sent a pass back to Aho, who scored his 14th goal to improve the Hurricanes to 4-1-2 against Columbus.

Cedric Paquette and Nino Niederreiter also scored for Carolina, and defenseman Dougie Hamilton provided an assist to stretch his point streak to 13 -- the longest by a blue-liner in franchise history and longest by a defenseman this year.

His helper also matched Toronto's Auston Matthews for the longest point streak this season.

After posting his second career shutout -- a 19-save effort on Monday -- Alex Nedeljkovic (8-2-2) made consecutive starts for the first time in his NHL career and stopped 33 of 36 shots.

The rookie netminder has won six of his past seven starts (6-0-1) and beat Columbus for the second time in four days.

Columbus' Cam Atkinson produced a goal and an assist, and Werenski and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored. Seth Jones dished out three assists for the Blue Jackets, who played their eighth one-goal game against Carolina in their past 10 meetings.

Joonas Korpisalo (8-11-5) started for the fourth time in five games and allowed four goals on 33 shots.

After a scoreless first period, Columbus was finally rewarded for its relentless pressure with the first goal on a three-on-one break at 7:03 in the second period.

Werenski led the odd-man rush, and his centering pass was deflected behind the net. He then banked in his fourth goal off the Carolina netminder for a 1-0 edge.

Yet, the advantage was short-lived as Paquette finished off a dump-and-chase possession by snaring a puck in the slot and whipping in his third marker to knot the game at 1 just 46 seconds later.

A burst of speed by Necas allowed him to grab a loose puck in the offensive end, swoop around behind Korpisalo's cage and slam dunk his seventh goal for the Hurricanes' first lead at 17:16.

On Columbus' third power play, Atkinson's shot struck Hamilton and bounced in for his 12th goal and a 2-2 tie at 3:20.

After Niederreiter's goal at 15:42 of the third period, Columbus pulled Korpisalo for the extra skater, and Bjorkstrand tied it at 3 with 15.1 seconds left to force overtime.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Carolina   Columbus
Martin Necas 2 Points Cam Atkinson 2
Martin Necas 1 Goals Cam Atkinson 1
Martin Necas 1 Assists Seth Jones 2
N/A Power Play Goals Cam Atkinson 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Alex Nedeljkovic .917 Save Percentage Joonas Korpisalo .879
Alex Nedeljkovic 33 Saves Joonas Korpisalo 29
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Carolina 33 4 0-2 2-3 6 31
Columbus 36 3 1-3 2-2 4 26
Upcoming Games
  • Columbus will play their next game on the road against Detroit. The Blue Jackets have a W/L % of .308 after a win and .450 after a loss.
  • Carolina will play their next game at home against Tampa Bay. The Hurricanes have a W/L % of .714 after a win and .600 after a loss.