Kent Johnson had the game-deciding goal in the shootout, rookie Kirill Marchenko notched his first hat trick and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Saturday afternoon.
Johnson, who had two assists, beat Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta (15 saves) with a backhander in the top of the fifth round to put Columbus up 3-2 in the one-on-one session. Joonas Korpisalo (39 saves) then denied Martin Necas on a deke as the Blue Jackets won for just the second time in 11 games (2-9-0).
Korpisalo also stopped Brent Burns and Max Pacioretty.
With overtime starting with five seconds left on Carolina’s sixth power play, the entire five-minute session was played four-on-four without a stoppage.
A 2018 second-round draft pick (49th overall), the 22-year-old Marchenko scored two power-play goals in the second and added one at even strength in the third to force overtime. He also netted one to lead off the shootout.
Pacioretty scored his first two goals for his new team in only his second game. Brady Skjei had a goal and an assist as Carolina lost its third straight (0-2-1).
Following a club-record 67 shots in Thursday’s 5-3 home defeat to the Nashville Predators, Carolina was back at it with 11 shots early in the first period.
But like fellow Finnish backstop Juuse Saros of Nashville, Korpisalo thwarted the Hurricanes’ pressure throughout.
In the second, just after Korpisalo stuffed Teuvo Teravainen’s short-handed breakaway attempt, Marchenko entered the offensive zone, swooped behind the Carolina cage and slammed home a wraparound goal on Raanta’s stick side at 7:26.
With Andrei Svechnikov in the penalty box for the second time in the frame in the next minute, Marchenko one-timed a puck on edge below the right circle, beating Raanta at 9:02.
But Pacioretty notched his first goal for his new team just two minutes later to make it 2-1. The former six-time 30-goal scorer backhanded a shot that struck Columbus defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and ricocheted in at 11:20.
Carolina ended the frame with a 3-2 lead following two power-play markers, getting Skjei’s eighth on a blast from the high slot and Pacioretty’s second on a shot that struck and broke Gavrikov’s stick from the right circle with 64 seconds remaining.
In the third, Marchenko slipped in his third tally at 5:23 for his eighth goal in 15 games since debuting on Dec. 6.
–Field Level Media
