Skjei helps Hurricanes to win against Blue Jackets 

COLUMBUS -- Brady Skjei had a goal and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Teuvo Teravainen, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis also scored for the Hurricanes (36-18-6), who are 6-1-1 in their past eight and 11-1-2 in their past 14 road games. Brett Pesce had two assists.

“Home or road, it doesn't really matter,” Aho said. “We just talk about the preparation every day. You know that this is the kind of stretch of the season that it's not always the easiest to prepare for.

“We want to be ready right off the hop, and to get the first goal on the road is always big.”

Spencer Martin made 20 saves. He played 13 games for Columbus this season before being claimed off waivers on Jan. 19 and is 4-0-1 with Carolina.

“I was trying to work myself up to stick it to them basically, but at the end of the day, I really enjoyed my time here,” Martin said. “Especially seeing those guys during warmups, there's no hate or anything like that. It was actually really fun.”

Alex Nylander had a goal and an assist, and Cole Sillinger scored for the Blue Jackets (19-30-10), who lost 4-1 at the New York Rangers on Wednesday. Daniil Tarasov made 28 saves.

“They’re a hard team," Sillinger said. "They play fast, they play hard, a lot of rims, a lot of trip-ups from them. Kind of a boring style of play, right? But it works for them.

“We did a pretty good job of making our own kind of game out of it and not feeding into what they want to do.”

Teravainen made it 1-0 at 53 seconds of the second period when he picked up a loose puck in the slot, spun around and beat Tarasov five-hole with a wrist shot.

Martin Necas appeared to make it 2-0 at 1:59, but the goal was disallowed after Columbus challenged for offside.

Aho extended the lead to 2-0 at 8:19 with a wrist shot from the right circle that deflected in off Blue Jackets defenseman Andrew Peeke’s skate.

“It was big,” Skjei said. “They had their push, especially on the road you’ve got to try and limit their chances, and I thought we did a good job with that.”

Sillinger cut it to 2-1 at 9:56 with a wrist shot from the left circle on a 3-on-1 rush.

Skjei pushed it to 3-1 at 16:30, eight seconds after coming out of the penalty box, taking a stretch pass from Jesperi Kotkaniemi and poking the puck with one hand between Tarasov’s pads on a breakaway.

Nylander’s power-play goal cut it to 3-2 at 8:41 of the third period. He scored on a wrist shot from the point for his first goal of the season, and first with the Blue Jackets, after he was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 22.

“I’m getting an opportunity here and I’ve got to be ready and ready to take it,” Nylander said. “It’s huge for me and I’ve got to keep working hard here.”

Jarvis scored an empty-net goal for the 4-2 final at 19:45.

“We played hard. I felt like we missed a boatload of chances,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Their goalie made a couple of great saves, there were a few empty-netters (missed). Just a weird game.

“Overall, the effort was high and we got the win.”

NOTES: Martin was 3-8-1 with a 3.65 goals-against average and .887 save percentage for the Blue Jackets. … This was the 21st time the NHL played games on Feb. 29. Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns played his fifth such game, tying Patrick Marleau for the most in League history. … Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakhov did not play after 16:30 of the second period. Coach Pascal Vincent said it was due to poor play, not an injury.