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Carolina Hurricanes hand Columbus Blue Jackets fourth straight loss
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- Carolina Hurricanes hand Columbus Blue Jackets fourth straight loss
Another back-to-back finale resulted in a predictable ugly loss for the reeling Blue Jackets on Sunday night at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina .
Jordan Martinook led the way with a goal and assist for the Carolina Hurricanes , who downed the Blue Jackets 4-1 by dictating play most of the game. Jordan Stall added two points on two assists for the Hurricanes (19-10-1), whose other three goals were scored by Sebastian Aho , William Carrier and Jesperi Kotkaniemi .
Dec 15, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Jordan Martinook (48) celebrates his goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the second period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
Hurricanes goalie Dustin Tokarski , playing his first NHL game since Feb. 18, 2023, made 27 saves for the goaltending win. Elvis Merzlikins , starting for the first time since taking an ugly loss Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers , allowed four goals on 28 shots in another defeat.
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Dmitri Voronkov scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets (12-14-5), who are winless in their past four games (0-2-2) and just 1-5-2 since the end of a six-game point streak.
Carolina led 2-0 after owning the first period against the Blue Jackets in attempted shots, scoring chances and chances from high-danger areas. Interestingly, Aho scored the Hurricanes' first goal at 8:28 of the opening period during a short-handed 2-on-1 rush sparked by Columbus turning the puck over attempting to end the offensive zone on a power play.
Dec 15, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing William Carrier (28) celebrates a goal with center Jordan Staal (11) against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the first period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
Seth Jarvis fed a cross-slot pass, which Aho buried with a snapshot to beat Merzlikins for a 1-0 lead. Carrier made it 2-0 in the period's final minute, backhanding a pass from Staal inside the right post to beat Merzlikins with 52 seconds remaining.
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In the second, each team scored once to give the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead. Voronkov scored the first one to pull the Blue Jackets within 2-1 on his eighth goal, set up with a backhand pass from Kirill Marchenko . Martinook, however, reclaimed a two-goal cushion for the Hurricanes 1:24 later by tipping Staal's long-range shot from the blue line into the Jackets' net.
Columbus challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld after video review and Carolina was given a power play for delay-of-game. Former Blue Jackets forward Jack Roslovic capped it with a power-play goal that would've made it 4-1, but Columbus challenged again for a missed stoppage that should've followed an uncalled hand pass prior to the goal. That one was successful and the goal was wiped out, giving the Blue Jackets a strange lift heading into the second break.
The Hurricanes quickly made it 4-1 in the third period, though. Kotkaniemi used a great screen from Martin Necas at 6:19 to zip a wrist shot past Merzlikins, who never saw it. That pushed Carolina's lead to an insurmountable three-goal margin.
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The Blue Jackets, already missing three injured forwards plus defenseman Erik Gudbranson , lost defenseman Jack Johnson to an apparent eye injury after a high stick to the face from Kotkaniemi and lost forward Kevin Labanc in the third after he was struck in the face by the puck.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets drop fourth straight in loss to Hurricanes
