Recap: Canes Suffer Shootout Loss In Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Carolina Hurricanes earned a point on Tuesday but came out on the wrong side of the skills competition, falling 4-3 in a shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

GAME SUMMARY | BOX SCORE | UPCOMING HOME GAMES

An action-packed start to the contest saw both teams get on the board inside the opening 10 minutes. Hurricane terror Kirill Marchenko struck for his first of two in the period, but Carolina countered courtesy of Ty Smith on the power play.

Marchenko's eighth goal in nine games against the Canes had the home team in front going to the middle frame, but the visitors were able to push back from there. Jack Roslovic's 17th goal of the season and a backhand beauty from Jesperi Kotkaniemi catapulted Rod Brind'Amour's group into the lead heading to the finish.

However, in the final frame of regulation, Columbus evened things up 4:58 in and it felt like Carolina ran out of gas afterward. They were able to hang on until overtime and then force a shootout, but the Blue Jackets claimed victory after capitalizing on two of their four opportunities.

Pyotr Kochetkov took the loss in net, in what was just the second shootout of the season for the team.

Stats & Standouts

• Carolina went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill in the effort, finishing the month 30-for-32. The 93.7% success rate is the fourth-best calendar month in franchise history (min. 10 games).
• As Jack Roslovic closes in on matching his career-high in goals (22), he now storms into 2025 with a five-game point streak. He's shown an ability to play up and down the lineup through 37 games and has found twine three times more than the next closest Hurricane (Martin Necas - 14).
• Despite the defeat, this is the first time this season that Pyotr Kochetkov has suffered back-to-back losses. He is now 14-7-1 on the campaign.
• In 82 regular season games, Carolina finishes the calendar year 2024 with a record of 54-23-5.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour following the loss...

"First two goals, it was weird. We break a stick and go to the bench to get one, that leaves the guy wide open, it's just unfortunate. Second one, we run our goalie over - so you give them two goals, essentially, and that's tough to make up. We came back and had a lead, and then take a bad penalty and they bank one in off our foot. It's just some weird goals tonight that cost us."

Rod Brind'Amour on his team's performance(s) away from home...

"It's obviously tougher playing on the road because you don't get quite the same matchups and whatever, but tonight, like I mentioned, just three tough goals that would never happen normally, we just got some bad bounces. But could we be better? Yeah. I didn't love the power play. After we scored the one, it was a little too stagnant. We have to have that killer instinct there to put the game away when we had our opportunity."

Jesperi Kotkaniemi on an up-and-down first period...

"I think we were sloppy early on. First period was not great from us, that's not the way we want to come out in the road games. We just need to figure out what's going on in the road games right now. We need a good start in every game, so we need to fix that first."

Jesperi Kotkaniemi on the team's struggles on the road...

"It's been happening for a while now. I think we just need to find a way out of it. Have the same mindset that we have in the home games, play hard, just keep it simple. I think that's going to be the key for our team."

What's Next?

The Canes are scheduled to practice on Wednesday in Florida, before taking on the Panthers on Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena.

Next Game: Thursday, Jan. 2 at Florida | 7:00 p.m.

Next Home Game: Saturday, Jan. 4 vs. Minnesota | 7:00 pm | Tickets | Parking | Upcoming Theme Nights