So I don’t think anybody really expected the Columbus Blue Jackets to leave Raleigh tonight victorious, but I also don’t think anybody imagined that thorough of a beatdown from the Carolina Hurricanes.
To be fair, the Canes did ice a lineup consisting of mostly NHL regulars, including most of their (stacked) defense, while the Jackets sent a bunch of bubble players to Carolina to show management what they are made of. Unfortunately, aside from Yegor Chinakhov, I don’t think anybody made a strong statement in support of why they should make the team as the Jackets were absolutely dominated en route to an 8-1 loss at the hands of the Canes.
The Good: Yegor Chinakhov scored again, in my opinion cementing his status as an NHL lock to start the year.
The Bad: Everything else. Erik Gudbranson was a -3 along with 4 penalty minutes. The Sillinger brothers were a combined -7 on the night, although I will give Cole a pass as it was his first game action of the year. The energy was sucked out of the team by the end of the first period, and it was just all downhill from there.
If you want to read on, here’s how it went down…
First Period
The Blue Jackets struck first in this one with Yegor Chinakhov scoring his fourth goal of the preseason. Chinny found a loose puck on the draw and fired off a no-look, turn-around shot that beat Canes goalie, Antti Raanta to give the Jackets an early lead. Feel free to stop reading now.
Make that a 3-game streak for Chinny! He scores off the face-off to make it 1-0 CBJ! pic.twitter.com/TKJkgtMEc5
— CBJ Center (@CBJcenter) October 3, 2022
1-0 CBJ (Chinakhov from Danforth)
The lead didn’t last long unfortunately as the Canes scored a power play goal about two minutes later. Tarasov had a clean look on the Kotkaniemi shot, but he just couldn’t catch up to the perfectly placed laser.
1-1 (Kotkaniemi from Burns and Jarvis)
The Canes took the lead with about six minutes remaining on a broken play after the Jackets’ fourth line couldn’t clear the zone. A blocked shot in front of the crease landed on the stick of Stefan Noesen, and he swept a backhand past Tarasov. It was a tough play for Tarsov to follow the bouncing puck, and he did manage to get a piece of the shot, but it still counts as a goal against.
2-1 Canes (Noesen from Skjei)
It appeared as if the score would remain 2-1 headed into the intermission, but the Canes struck again in the dying seconds of the period. Rather than clear the puck from the zone, Emil Bemstrom opted to pass the puck back to the defense from the wall, only there was no defenseman to receive the pass. Jake Bean went back to retrieve the puck, but lost the puck battle and Carolina regained possession. The puck was sent back to the point, and with five seconds remaining, Jaccob Slavin threw a puck towards the net, and Derek Stepan got a stick on it, redirecting it past Tarasov.
3-1 Canes (Stepan from Slavin and MacEachern)
Second Period
Carolina came out for the second with their foot still on the gas and controlled the pace of play from the drop of the puck. The pressure and skill of Carolina was proving to be more than the Jackets could handle, spending long stretches in their own end.
The Jackets appeared to catch a break when they were about to head to a power play for a boarding penalty. Erik Gudbranson took exception to the hit and went after the Carolina player and received his own penalty for roughing as well as an instigator, therefore putting the Canes on the power play.
Jet Greaves entered the game while the penalties were sorted out and promptly allowed a power play goal from a Brent Burns slapper. Tough start for the kid and sign of worse things to come.
4-1 Canes (Burns from Necas and Jarvis)
At this point Carolina was just bullying the rag-tag team of Blue Jackets. They were effortlessly maintaining possession and peppering Greaves with shots. The forecheck of the Hurricanes was just too much for the Jackets. At the halfway mark of the game, the Jackets only amassed 8 shots compared to Carolina’s 27. This one couldn’t end soon enough for the Jackets and their effort showed it.
Mr. 4×4, Erik Gudbranson, continued to benefit the Canes with his play when he was out hustled and out muscled by Ryan Dzingel on a race to a puck and he then fed Martin Necas for the easy goal.
Lots of Petey Pablo tonight at PNC Arena.
Martin Necas is the beneficiary of some hard work from Ryan Dzingel and just a few seconds past the halfway point of the game it’s 5-1, #Canes. pic.twitter.com/qFScoYSt6o
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) October 4, 2022
5-1 Canes (Necas from Dzingel)
Carolina scored yet again, less than a minute later while I was writing about the last goal, so I didn’t see it, but heard it was a Brady Skjei shot.
6-1 (Skjei from Necas and Kotkaniemi)
Carolina was just toying with Columbus and were just exerting their will, while the Jackets counted down the seconds until the end of the period. The canes exited the second period with a 5 goal lead, while outshooting Columbus 38-12.
Third Period
The third period picked up where the second left off, with the Canes scoring less than a minute in. Somehow Derek Stepan was left all alone directly in front of Jet Greaves who stood little chance.
7-1 Canes (Stepan from Burns and Noesen)
Carolina went into cruise control from there and practiced locking down a lead. The Blue Jackets did manage a few scoring chances along the way that, but most of their shots were directly into the crest on Raanta’s jersey, only forcing him to make a few tough saves.
In the final two minutes, Carolina decided to put one more in the back of the net, just to show they could. Ryan Dzingel fed Necas again on a 2-on-1 for the tap in goal.
Final 8-1 (Necas from Dzingel and Stepan)
Whatever, nobody will remember this game once the regular season starts.
Up Next
The Jackets welcome the St. Louis Blues to Nationwide Arena on Thursday night.