Another tough night for the Blue Jackets, falling 4-1 to the Hurricanes in Raleigh

The Blue Jackets went into Raleigh desperately needing points, and for 20 minutes it looked like they were ready to respond. Then, well, we’ve seen this movie before

Early on, Zach Werenski nearly turned the puck over in front of Jet Greaves, but Greaves bailed the play out with a calm stop to keep things settled. Carolina pushed back with a few looks of their own, but the Blue Jackets penalty kill did its job twice, staying perfect through two first period kills

The breakthrough finally came at 12:39, and it was exactly what Columbus needed. A clean power play sequence ended with Dmitri Voronkov wide open in front, snapping home his 11th of the season to break the scoring drought. Monahan and Marchenko picked up the assists, and Voronkov extended his ridiculous scoring streak vs Carolina

Columbus held that 1-0 lead into the intermission, and honestly the period felt balanced. The Blue Jackets weren’t dominating, but they were disciplined and opportunistic

The Hurricanes tightened things up in the second period, and it didn’t take long before the momentum tilted. Carolina controlled most of the zone time early, and Columbus struggled to get pucks through the neutral zone

Eventually, the pressure broke through. At 9:42, Seth Jarvis buried his 17th to tie the game 1-1 off a feed from Andrei Svechnikov. The Blue Jackets defended in waves but couldn’t clear long enough to change or relieve pressure

Jet Greaves kept the period from getting out of hand with several point-blank stops, especially during a late Carolina push. Columbus generated very little going the other direction, and you could feel the game tilting

The third period is where everything fell apart, again. The Blue Jackets went more than 13 minutes without a shot on goal to start the period. Carolina dictated every inch of ice, and it felt like we were only delaying the inevitable

Former Blue Jacket Eric Robinson delivered the dagger at 7:53, finishing a setup from Taylor Hall to give the Hurricanes their first lead of the night. Just a tough one, puck watching in front, too much space, and Robinson made them pay

From there, Columbus didn’t push back enough. Carolina kept pouring pressure on, and the killer came at 13:38. Jordan Staal hammered home a power play goal to extend their lead to 3-1, marking back to back games with power play goals for him after not scoring one in over four years

The Blue Jackets generated a few looks late, but nothing that threatened Brandon Bussi, who improved to 9-1-0 in his insane rookie run

With Jet Greaves pulled, Jordan Martinook sealed it with an empty netter at 18:45 while Carolina was shorthanded, which pretty much summed up the night

Columbus actually started fine. They scored first. They killed penalties. They played with structure. But the same issue showed up again in the third period. That’s now a league high 45 third period goals allowed, and it cost them another divisional game they absolutely needed

Next up is a four-game homestand that starts Thursday vs Ottawa

After dropping three straight, this one becomes pretty close to must win territory

GO JACKETS