Carolina Hurricanes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets Pick & Prediction JANUARY 12th 2023
Two teams mired in slumps look to get back on the winning track when the Columbus Blue Jackets host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.
The Blue Jackets have lost four of five and are coming off their 10th straight road loss, a 6-3 defeat at Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. Tim Berni scored his first NHL goal, Patrik Laine had two assists and Elvis Merzlikins made 40 saves for the Blue Jackets.
"You don't want to give anything for free and I feel like we did that," Columbus coach Brad Larsen said. "(The Lightning) are good enough to generate (offense) on their own. They make you pay on mistakes, they're really good at that."
Jimmy Liu
Gavin Bayreuther had one of the three Columbus goals in Tuesday's loss.
"I think we gave up again," Bayreuther said. "Guys get frustrated. It's hard, it's really hard to win in this league, but it's really unfortunate."
Berni's first career goal came off a wrist shot after a feed from Laine and got the Blue Jackets within 3-2 at 4:35 of the third period. It also was Berni's first NHL point in his 17th game.
"Obviously a cool moment, super fun to score my first one and get the team back (within) 3-2," Berni said. "I would've liked to win when I scored my first, but it was fun."
Laine got his first point since Dec. 20, ending a six-game drought.
"We're learning the hard way," Larsen said. "Guys are trying, they're giving effort. We get back within a goal and then we take penalties. You take two penalties against a group like that, and they make you pay."
The Blue Jackets are 4-20-1 this season when giving up the first goal.
In their most recent home game Saturday, the Blue Jackets were the beneficiaries of Kirill Marchenko's first NHL hat trick as the Blue Jackets beat the Hurricanes 4-3 in a shootout.
Marchenko is the sixth rookie in Columbus history to record a hat trick.
"For me it was my dream, scoring three goals at home for the fans," said Marchenko, who has eight goals in 15 games. "Thank you so much to the fans. It was great."
The Hurricanes lost their season-high fourth straight Tuesday, dropping a 5-3 home decision to the New Jersey Devils.
The Hurricanes blew a 3-1 lead late in the second period, allowing New Jersey to score twice in an 18-second span to tie the game heading into the third period. The Devils scored twice in the third to come away with the win.
"That last minute (of the second period) killed us," Carolina head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "There's no doubt about it, and then we didn't respond in the third. It was a great two periods, playing a really good team. We just didn't get anything out of it."
The Hurricanes hope a game against the cellar dwellers of the Eastern Conference will help them snap the losing skid.
"It's not great," Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. "It's frustrating. I hope this group doesn't think they're better than they are and we have to come back with a better, grittier effort. We have to get back to the way that we want to play and the way we want to do things around here."
The NHL announced Wednesday that Brind'Amour will represent the Metropolitan Division at the 2023 NHL All-Star Weekend, to take place from Feb. 3-4 in Sunrise, Fla. Brind'Amour earned the honor as head coach of the Metropolitan Division team with the highest points percentage through Tuesday's games.
--Field Level Media
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets Recap JAN 1TH 2022
Brady Skjei scored twice in a comeback from a four-goal deficit as the Carolina Hurricanes rallied past the host Columbus Blue Jackets for a 7-4 victory Saturday afternoon.
Steven Lorentz also scored twice, posting the first and sixth goals for the Hurricanes. They scored five goals in the third period.
Nino Niederreiter, Ethan Bear and Andrei Svechnikov had the other goals, with Bear putting Carolina ahead with 9:50 remaining. Lorentz followed with his second goal just 69 seconds later.
Frederik Andersen stopped eight shots across the final two periods in relief of goalie Antti Raanta, who gave up three goals on nine shots in the first period just two days after posting a shutout of the Montreal Canadiens. Andersen also was credited with an assist on Niederreiter's goal.
Daniil Tarasov worked the first two periods as the goalie for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins gave up the final four Carolina goals.
Columbus won just three times in December, but the Blue Jackets appeared on their way to their first regulation victory since Dec. 5.
Zach Werenski, Adam Boqvist, Gustav Nyquist and Alexandre Texier scored for the Blue Jackets. Nyquist had a short-handed tally and he also had an assist. Texier supplied an assist as well.
The Hurricanes have won eight of their last nine games. They failed to score at all until 10:49 remained in the second period, yet they entered the third period with a 4-2 deficit.
Carolina scored five times on 16 third-period shots. The Blue Jackets put only two shots on goal in the third period.
Seth Jarvis and Vincent Trocheck each had two assists for Carolina. Fourteen of the Hurricanes had at least one point.
Andersen came out of COVID protocols prior to Thursday's game, so this was his first time back in action since that layoff.
The Hurricanes also won in Columbus in October. Andersen was also the winning goalie in that game.
--Field Level Media
- NHL
