COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Carolina Hurricanes couldn't recover from a slow start on Tuesday, falling 5-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
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Although it looked as if Carolina was going to control the opening stages of the contest, an inadvertent high stick from Seth Jarvis sent Columbus to the game's first power play. There, the Blue Jackets made good on their opportunity, establishing themselves in the driver's seat.
Scoring on their first shot of the night, a second Columbus man advantage later in the frame yielded the same result, sending the Canes back to the locker room in a two-goal hole after 20 minutes.
In the second period, Nic Deslauriers marked his debut by dropping the gloves in an effort to provide his team with a spark. Riding that momentum, Andrei Svechnikov got the Canes on the board shortly thereafter, seemingly turning the tide in favor of the visitors.
However, fewer than four minutes later, a pair of counterstrikes separated by just 34 seconds gave the Blue Jackets their first three-goal lead of the night, one they'd only further extend in the third. A final marker with 13:22 closed out the scoring, completing the book on Carolina's first regulation loss to a Metropolitan Division opponent since Dec. 30.
In net, Brandon Bussi suffered the loss for Carolina, allowing five goals on 30 shots.
