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
By Field Level Media
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.