South Raleigh News

The Carolina Hurricanes experienced a narrow defeat against the Columbus Blue Jackets, concluding their match with a 4-3 shootout loss at Nationwide Arena. Despite the setback, they secured one point in the standings.

The game started with both teams scoring within the first ten minutes. Kirill Marchenko scored twice for Columbus in the opening period, while Ty Smith responded for Carolina on a power play. Jack Roslovic and Jesperi Kotkaniemi added goals for the Hurricanes, giving them a lead heading into the final period.

Columbus tied the game early in the third period, pushing it to overtime and eventually to a shootout. The Blue Jackets capitalized on two of their four shootout attempts to clinch victory. Pyotr Kochetkov was in net for Carolina, facing his second shootout of the season.

Carolina's penalty kill performed effectively, ending December with a 93.7% success rate. Jack Roslovic continued his strong performance with a five-game point streak as he approached his career-high goal total.

Despite this loss marking back-to-back defeats for Kochetkov for the first time this season, Carolina closed out 2024 with an impressive record of 54-23-5 over 82 regular-season games.

Head coach Rod Brind'Amour commented on unusual circumstances leading to some goals against: "First two goals, it was weird...it's just unfortunate." He also acknowledged challenges faced when playing away from home: "It's obviously tougher playing on the road because you don't get quite the same matchups."

Jesperi Kotkaniemi noted early struggles in away games: "I think we were sloppy early on...we need to figure out what's going on in the road games right now."

The Hurricanes will practice in Florida before facing off against the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena.