FINAL: Hurricanes 6, Blue Jackets 5

The Blue Jackets dropped a 6-5 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon in Nationwide Arena.
Game in a Paragraph
Columbus had a trio of one-goal leads in the first 40 minutes but gave them all away before Carolina took a 4-3 lead into the second intermission. The Blue Jackets tied it early in the frame, but the Hurricanes pulled away from there in a weird game at the downtown arena that included a controversial goal call benefitting Carolina that the NHL later admitted was wrong.

Quote of the Game
CBJ captain Nick Foligno: "That's a good team over there. It's hard when you can't string a full 60 minutes together where you're playing the right way. Yeah, they're going to have pushes like any team does. It seemed like any time we scored, they had a push and we didn't have an answer for it."
CBJ Standouts

Quick Recap
The Blue Jackets earned a pair of leads in the opening stanza, including a 1-0 advantage 10:07 into the game on a vintage Laine one-timer as the newest member of the team showed off the skill that made him such an eagerly anticipated acquisition. With Columbus on the power play, Seth Jones teed up Laine just above the left circle, and the Finn's bomb of a slap shot whistled over the glove of Carolina goaltender James Reimer.
Carolina needed just 25 seconds to tie the game, though, taking advantage of a Vladislav Gavrikov turnover on the next shift to make it 1-1. Andrei Svechnikov took the puck away from his fellow Russian in the left corner then quickly fed Sebastian Aho, who just as quickly fed Brock McGinn at the left post for a tap-in past the lunging Joonas Korpisalo.
Foligno had a chance to restore the lead less than a minute later but Reimer gloved his shot on a half breakaway. But the CBJ captain would figure in on a goal a few shifts later as Nash made it 2-1 at 15:34. Off a faceoff win, David Savard passed it to Foligno along the right-wing wall, and his long one-timer deflected off the pants of Nash at the front of the net and snuck by Reimer.
Korpisalo made great saves on Jordan Martinook, Aho and McGinn in the second period, but the Blue Jackets still had a 4-3 disadvantage going into the third thanks to three Carolina goals in a frame the Hurricanes controlled.
Warren Foegele started the goal-scoring parade for the Canes at 7:23, as Jordan Staal knocked down a clearing try by Korpisalo and fed Ryan Dzingel behind the net. The former CBJ forward quickly centered to Foegele, whose original shot was blocked, but he stayed on the rebound and slid it home to tie the score at 2.
Foligno then gave Columbus its third lead of the game when he scored on an odd-man rush at 14:24 to make it 3-2 on the Jackets' first shot on goal of the period. Gavrikov picked him out on a Carolina line change and put it on the captain's tape, and Foligno skated in on a 2-on-1 and scored shortside past Reimer for his milestone goal.
But Carolina scored twice in the last five minutes to take a lead into the break. First, Brett Pesce fired through a screen from the left point and sailed one past Korpisalo's glove to tie the score at 16:35, then Vincent Trocheck gave Carolina its first lead with 1:15 left in the period. Savard's stick broke in the corner, and with Columbus scrambling, Trocheck jumped on the rebound of a shot by Pesce and slipped it past Korpisalo to make it 4-3.
Columbus challenged the Trocheck goal for offside, but the call on the ice stood and the Blue Jackets were assessed a minor penalty. However, between periods, the CBJ player was taken out of the box for the last 45 seconds of the Carolina power play as further review showed the goal was in fact offside, though the goal stayed on the board.
The Blue Jackets took advantage early in the third, making it a 4-4 game. In transition, Scott Harrington set up Domi low in the right circle, and his one-timer slapper got through Reimer to tie the score just 2:08 into the period.
The tie game didn't last long, though, as Carolina retook the lead on the power play at 5:33. Dougie Hamilton's wrist shot from the right point deflected twice on the way in, first off Trocheck and then Jordan Staal before it got behind Korpisalo to make it a 5-4 contest.
Carolina added a sixth goal at 10:37 as this time Hamilton got on the board to make it 6-4. The Carolina defenseman simply floated a puck at the net that deflected off the outstretched arm of Savard and deflected down into the net past a flummoxed Korpisalo.
That proved to be a huge goal as with 56.3 seconds to go, Laine ripped another one-timer past Reimer to make it 6-5. His third goal in the last two games set the final score despite a late CBJ power play in the final 38 seconds.
3 Takeaways
1. The botched replay: Well, never seen that before. Something was clearly up when a referee and a linesman visited the two locker rooms between period, and here's the NHL situation room take on the mistake: "A miscommunication occurred between the Video Replay Booth in Columbus, the Linesmen and the Situation Room and play resumed before all replays could be reviewed to confirm the off-side. The challenge by Columbus should have resulted in the Carolina goal being disallowed." The Blue Jackets had a varying level of anger/annoyance at the call, with Foligno calling it a "bad look" and Laine certainly speaking his mind on the topic. It clearly was a mistake by the league, but there also doesn't appear to be a mechanism to take a goal off the board. "Accidents happen, but that's why we have replay there for a reason -- so they don't," Foligno said. "That's the hard part, but it's not why we lost the game. Maybe you can say it is because we lost by a goal, but it was a weird game tonight."
2. Weird game: That was Foligno's takeaway, and he wasn't wrong. Carolina's two goals in the third period -- Staal's equalizer and Hamilton's insurance goal that proved huge -- were fluky as could be, with the former a double deflection on a shot from the point and the second a floater that fell like a rainbow, deflected off the glove of Savard as he tried to play it and then dropped over the flummoxed Korpisalo but under the bar. Frankly, you couldn't do that again if you tried. But at the same time, as Foligno said above, Columbus came into the game searching for some defensive cohesiveness and will have to continue that search in tomorrow's rematch. It was there at times, especially in the first period, but in the end Carolina had more of the puck. After all, you can only score fluky goals when you're the team putting the puck on net. "We had a better focus on getting out of our end," Foligno said, "but we have to shore up some things. There's still scenarios where we're letting teams play out of situations that we should smother them in. It's a work in progress."
3. Laine drives: I'll write more about this tomorrow in CBJ Today, but for the first time, Blue Jackets fans were treated to the joy of watching Laine uncork a pair of one-timers into the net past the helpless Reimer. The shot is absolutely as good as advertised, as Jones put the puck in the Finnish star's wheelhouse both times and Laine made no mistake. Laine had a crack at a third goal and the game-tying tally in the final seconds, but Carolina's Jaccob Slavin made a heroic block. Laine said afterward his hands still aren't where he'd like them to be -- that's hard to believe, as he dangled through traffic a couple of times, including on a late chance setting up Cam Atkinson -- but "I've never had issues shooting the puck." Uhh, yeah. Good point, Patrik. Can't wait to see it more often.
Notable
Oliver Bjorkstrand had an assist on the Domi goal and now has 11 points (4-7-11) in the last 11 games. … Jones' assists on Laine's two goals give him 200 points in his Blue Jackets career. … Jack Roslovic had assists on both of Laine's goals as well, giving him a four-game point streak (1-5-6). … Savard also had a pair of assists in the game to join Foligno, Laine, Jones and Roslovic with multipoint games. … Domi and Carolina's Nino Niederreiter were assessed fighting majors after a tussle in the second period. … Columbus had won four games in a row in the series. … Reimer improved to 3-8-2 all-time vs. the Blue Jackets. ... Korpisalo finished with 20 saves on 26 shots against, while Reimer stopped 17 of 22. ... Harrington earned an assist in his season debut.
Roster Report
Columbus made two changes to the lineup, with Liam Foudy going in for Mikhail Grigorenko at forward and Harrington deputizing for the injured Zach Werenski on the blue line. Scratches were forwards Grigorenko and Kevin Stenlund as well as defenseman Gabriel Carlsson and injured goalie Matiss Kivlenieks.
Up Next
The teams meet again Monday with a 7 p.m. game to close the series at Nationwide Arena.