For the second-straight game to start the season, 60 minutes wasn’t enough for the Carolina Hurricanes. This time, however, the Canes were only able to secure one point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night at PNC Arena.
The Hurricanes (1-0-1) got a game-tying goal from forward Jeff Skinner with just 1:25 left in the game and their own net empty, but weren’t able to capitalize in overtime as the Blue Jackets (2-1-0) wrapped things up with a breakaway goal from forward Sonny Milano late in the extra period.
“It’s a resilient group and it’s a work in progress obviously,” head coach Bill Peters said. “We’ve only played twice, and we got to get playing some games and get some rhythm, and that will happen.”
Milano scored both goals in the game for Columbus, tallying the first midway through the third period with a shot from behind the net that deflected off of Carolina goaltender Scott Darling’s pad and into the net.
In overtime, Milano collected a rebound off of an errant shot by Canes forward Sebastian Aho, carrying the puck up the ice and converting on a one-on-one chance with just 31 seconds left in the extra period.
For the Hurricanes, Skinner scored on a phenomenally acrobatic play. With the Carolina net empty, Columbus attempted to clear the puck, but Skinner was able to make a jumping stop with his hand and bat the puck out of the air. From there, Skinner calmly collected the puck and slotted it past Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
“It was nice to get a goal. Nice to get the first one of the season and nice to tie the game up and force OT,” Skinner said. “You just try and do your best to get a piece of it. I got a hand on it and it settled pretty nice in front of me.”
Defensively, both goalies played exceptional games in net. Darling made 20 saves on 22 shots faced, including four big power play stops. Bobrovsky was even better, stopping 28 of the Hurricanes’ 29 shots and stifling eight shots on net during Canes power plays.
“It’s a different type of game,” Darling said. “More shots tonight, but less in-zone action. A little less tiring. It’s easy to stay focused. That’s my job as a goalie, to stay focused through 60 minutes no matter what. They’re a good team, it’s fun to play against good teams. You can’t let in that goal, that squeaker in regulation.”
A big part of the Hurricanes failure to create chances and score was their inability to get anything going on power plays. Carolina had a man advantage three times in the game, including a 4-on-3 boost in overtime. However, the Hurricanes were flat and nonthreatening on the power play, and unable to make the most of their advantages.
The worst of these power plays came in the overtime period. The Hurricanes had tons of space in the attacking third of the ice, but looked content at passing it around the zone and not attacking the net, costing them an extra point and the game. Peters discussed potentially tweaking the power play unit after its lackluster performance.
“Yeah, you need one there for sure,” Peters said. “We have a small sample size to look at and we have some other things we can do with some other guys.”
The Hurricanes will now embark on a four-game road trip while the State Fair is in Raleigh, starting Saturday in Winnipeg to face the Jets. Carolina will be back at home on Oct. 24 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
