Carolina reaches 100-point mark and stays atop East with 5-2 victory over Blue Jackets
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Nikolaj Ehlers scored the go-ahead goal with 7:18 remaining and the Carolina Hurricanes reached the 100-point mark for the fifth time in franchise history, defeating the reeling Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 on Tuesday night. Ehlers added two assists as the Hurricanes remained tied with Buffalo for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov had a power-play goal and an assist.
Shayne Gostisbehere and Logan Stankoven also scored with the man advantage, and Jordan Martinook added a short-handed, empty-net goal. Brandon Bussi stopped 23 shots. The Hurricanes have scored at least one power-play goal in seven consecutive games for the first time since they had an eight-game run from Dec.
23, 2023 to Jan. 11, 2024. They have gone 11 of 23 during their current run, including 3 of 5 on Tuesday night.
Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli scored for Columbus, which has dropped four straight and is 1-4-1 in its last six. Jet Greaves made 26 saves. The only saving grace for the Blue Jackets is that they still have the East’s second wild-card spot at 88 points.
Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia — which are two points behind Columbus — all lost Tuesday night. Columbus fell behind 2-0 but evened it 2:07 into the third on Fantilli's one-timer at a tough angle in the right faceoff circle. Ehlers and Carolina regained the lead at 12:42 when his slap shot from the top of the zone made its way through traffic and past Greaves.