x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Game #49 Recap: Nightmare second period dooms Blue Jackets in Raleigh

Jan 23, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Jordan Martinook (48) scores a goal past Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) during the second period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images

After a surprise victory in Toronto on Wednesday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets had to travel overnight to play in Raleigh less than 24 hours later. With Cole Sillinger still day-to-day with an upper body injury, Dean Evason elected to dress the same 11 forward/7 defenseman lineup from the night before. The only change? Daniil Tarasov in net, attempting to follow up on his 65-minute shutout in Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

First Period

Tarasov picked up where he left off, with several big saves in the first period. That includes a big one on a Jordan Staal breakaway, where a desperate stretch of the leg kept the Hurricanes off the board.

Despite the Canes controlling play, the Jackets managed to get on the board first. James van Riemsdyk won a puck battle at the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive zone, and Luca Del Bel Belluz came up along the boards to retrieve the puck and pass it in to Kent Johnson in the middle of the zone. KJ did his shootout move and got the puck under Frederik Andersen’s pads.

The Jackets doubled the lead with a great play from the top line. Adam Fantilli entered the zone and made a perfect pass through traffic to Kirill Marchenko. Marchenko made a move to beat Andersen 1-on-1.

Carolina picked up the pace a bit from there, but Tarasov and the defense stepped up, especially on their first penalty kill. Zach Werenski nearly made it 3-0 with a rebound right at the post, but it went high and wide.

The Jackets finished the period with a 13-9 lead in shots on goal, and a 55% success rate in the faceoff circle. They did trail the expected goals battle 0.65-1.37, which speaks to Tarasov’s play and Andersen’s rust. Pretty much the same script as the Toronto game.

Second Period

If you want to enjoy your day, maybe stop reading here.

Carolina got their second power play early in the period after a Damon Severson tripping penalty. Andrei Svechnikov made a good play in the slot to body Dante Fabbro away from the crease, which gave Sebastian Aho room to get the puck inside. Seth Jarvis tapped it in.

That was all it took to swing momentum entirely in Carolina’s favor. Just under five minutes later, they tied it up on a rush goal by our old friend Eric Robinson. Jake Christiansen ran into the linesman as he exited the defensive zone, which slowed him down a bit. He also took a bad angle trying to catch up with Robinson (who is quite fast, you’ll recall) and couldn’t get there in time to help out Jack Johnson. Nice feed from Jarvis on the 2-on-1.

Just 47 seconds later, after an offensive zone faceoff win, Jackson Blake wheeled around the circle and fired the puck at Tarasov from a tight angle. It took a favorable Carolina bounce as Tarasov fell back, but it appeared that he may have swiped the puck away before it crossed the line. There was no signal either way from the officials, but they blew the play did and had a conference before declaring that the call on the ice was a goal, and then the play was sent to Toronto for review. The call was quickly confirmed, but I wondered whether it could have been if the call on the ice had been no goal. The initial replays they showed on TV were not conclusive. A screenshot from the replay room shared with the broadcast later did clearly show the puck over the line, however.

It only took 35 more seconds for the Canes to double up the Jackets. Blake swiped the puck from Werenski in the defensive zone and Aho quickly snapped the puck past Tarasov. There was traffic in front, but it still felt like anything could get past Tarasov at this point. He was looking shaky, and he was getting no help from the team in front of him.

https://twitter.com/nhl_goal_bot/status/1882602144857043266

A Staal interference penalty on Ivan Provorov felt like it could finally give Tarasov a breather. I would have pulled him at this point, but Evason has not yet switched goalies midgame this season, and I’m sure he was even more reluctant to do so on the second leg of a back-to-back.

The Jackets power play moved the puck well but didn’t get enough action around the net. As the penalty expired, Provorov apparently didn’t hear Tarasov’s warning, because he was caught unaware by Staal. The Carolina captain laid a big hit from the side, causing a turnover. Jarvis and Jordan Martinook scored on the 2-on-1 against Damon Severson, who hit the ice but not in time to stop the crossing pass.

https://twitter.com/nhl_goal_bot/status/1882604571752632336

After a much-needed commercial break, the Jackets quickly stopped the bleeding with a long-awaited goal of their own. Kent Johnson put on a show on this one. He won a puck battle behind the line and started circling the zone. He fell to his knee and lost position, but Jack Johnson made a great play to win the puck back without exiting the zone. KJ got the puck and again evaded Hurricanes as he got to the point and fired the puck inside, where JVR tipped it in.

Less than a minute and a half later, the Jackets cut the lead to one after a coast-to-coast play started by Fantilli. The speed here was phenomenal. After gaining the zone, he dropped the puck to Werenski, who made a similar play to KJ, this time with Dmitri Voronkov tipping the puck in.

That’s 18 goals for the Big Russian, keeping him just one behind his countryman and linemate Marchenko.

Shots for the period were 24-3 in favor of Carolina. It looked every bit as bad as that, and it’s quite fortunate that the Jackets managed to score twice on just three shots.

Third Period

Blake tripped Werenski early in the period, and this felt like a chance for the Jackets to make this a new game. Unfortunately the Canes got the better scoring chance, but Tarasov made a big save. As the second power play unit tried to get set up in the offensive zone, Damon Severson slashed Jalen Chatfield in the corner. An offensive zone penalty? On the power play? What a brutal mistake by Severson, who makes too many brutal mistakes. Before the faceoff, the PA played Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy” which seems quite appropriate for that moment.

Fortunately the PK stepped up and kept Carolina from getting anything set up in the abbreviated power play.

No further push came from the Blue Jackets and the Hurricanes got a big insurance goal after another goaltending and defensive mishap. Tarasov went way to his right to handle the puck (insert Steve Dangle shouting “YOU’RE A GOALTENDER; TEND THE GOAL” here), but his attempt to tip it to Dante Fabbro didn’t work. Martin Necas picked it and made a centering pass to Jesperi Kotkaniemi for a shot into an open net.

Seth Jarvis added an empty net goal with just under two minutes left.

Final Thoughts

Jordan Harris played some forward in the third period, taking shifts with Sean Kuraly and Mikael Pyyhtia. Was this a better option than dressing Kevin Labanc and going with a traditional 12/6? Doesn’t seem like it! I also feel like a fresh forward could have helped things. The bottom 6 looked slow tonight and they were feasted on.

Speaking of Bottom 6 lines, the ZAR/Danforth/Olivier was demolished by the Robinson/Kotkaniemi/Necas line. The latter was 8% in CF at 5v5 for the game, and the latter was 86.67%.

Great first period for Tarasov! Second and third, not so much. After giving up a couple he seemed to lose confidence, got shaky, and then his teammates lost confidence in him and their own structure fell apart. Their respective failures just compounded each other.

Tarasov’s .857 save percentage tonight is back to the unplayable level he’s been at for most of the season. At 5v5, however, he allowed 5 goals on 4.42 expected. Only 0.58 above expected isn’t bad, but 4.42 expected allowed is way too much. I think blame needs to be shared by the defense and goalie on this one.

The silver lining is we saw another good game from forwards like Fantilli, Del Bel Belluz, Marchenko, and Johnson. These are the ages of the forwards in the top 6 tonight: 20, 21, 22, 24, 24, 35. The future is bright!

Up Next

The Blue Jackets return home to host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night. They hit the road for another four game road trip after that.

Talking Points