Stankoven scores twice in 1st period, Hurricanes clinch playoff berth with win against Blue Jackets

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Logan Stankoven scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes clinched a berth into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Lenovo Center on Thursday.

The Hurricanes have reached the playoffs in each of their eight seasons under coach Rod Brind’Amour. Carolina currently leads the Metropolitan Division with 102 points, 10 points ahead of the second place Pittsburgh Penguins.

“It’s a huge accomplishment,” Brind’Amour said. “It gets watered down because from the start of training camp, everyone is talking about the playoffs. I know how hard it is to accomplish that. You have to be good for six months.

“It's not our goal, we all know that. It’s nobody’s goal, but you can’t get to that next phase if you don’t play well for six months. Those two months (of playoffs) are the most important we’re going to get to play in, but you have to get there.”

Sebastian Aho and Taylor Hall each tallied two assists, and Frederik Andersen made nine saves for the Hurricanes (48-21-6), who have won six of their past eight games, including a 5-2 win in Columbus on Tuesday.

Denton Mateychuk scored and Elvis Merzlikins made 16 saves for the Blue Jackets (38-26-12), who have lost five in a row (0-4-1).

Columbus is tied with the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings at 88 points each in the Eastern Conference. With both the Senators and Red Wings having played one fewer game than the Blue Jackets, they are tied for the second wild-card spot, with Columbus one spot outside of the playoff line.

“Not very much that I liked,” Columbus coach Rick Bowness said. “They got three goals tonight on something we covered this morning – about better coverage around our net. They didn’t do what we wanted them to do.

“I saw some selfish play that I haven’t seen until now. We had some guys out there who poured their whole heart and soul into that game, and then we had some guys give us absolutely nothing. If we want to make a serious effort to get in (to the playoffs), it’s going to take a whole lot more than (what) some of those guys gave us tonight.”

Stankoven put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0 at 2:27 of the first period when he skated to the low slot and tipped K'Andre Miller’s wrist shot from inside the blue line past Merzlikins.

“We’ve got to come out with a lot more urgency, a lot more jam, skating, winning battles,” Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner said. “Not sitting back, watching them take it to us. You can’t start like that against any team, especially here.”

Stankoven scored his second of the game on a rebound to make it 2-0 at 8:52. Merzlikins made a left skate save on Hall before Stankoven tapped the puck past Merzlikins' back side into an open net. The play started after Jackson Blake won a puck battle in the corner and fed a backhand pass to Hall between the circles.

“'Blaker' being able to pull that puck out of the corner and making a nice play, and then ‘Hallsy’ bringing it to the net,” Stankoven said. “I’ve had chances to score in previous games and I wasn’t able to, so when you do get a chance like that, you make sure it goes in the back of the net.”

Carolina scored short-handed for a 3-0 lead at 12:50. Seth Jarvis passed to Alexander Nikishin, who beat Merzlikins glove side with a snap shot from the left face-off dot.

“‘Niki’ definitely has that offensive instinct and unbelievable shot, so great play by him,” Aho said. “If you have a chance to score off the rush, that’s go time. We’ll take that chance. Obviously, good on him to put that in.”

Mateychuk stuffed in a rebound at the top of the crease after Andersen stopped Miles Wood's shot through traffic to cut Carolina’s lead to 3-1 at 11:24 of the second period.

Carolina scored 13 seconds later when Jordan Martinook’s shot from the left side boards redirected off the stick of Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski to make it 4-1 at 11:37.

Andrei Svechnikov snapped a touch pass from Shayne Gostisbehere for a power-play goal to extend the lead to 5-1 at 6:44 of the third period. It marked the eighth straight game Carolina has scored with the man-advantage.

“It helps to build some confidence when you score some goals, but I think we’ve done a good job on the small details to be able to have those chances,” Aho said.

NOTES: Nikishin’s short-handed goal was the first by a rookie defenseman in Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes franchise history. … With the secondary assist on Svechnikov’s goal, Aho reached 400 assists (752 games).