Carolina defenseman Dougie Hamilton left the game with 17 seconds remaining in the second period because of a lower-body injury. The Hurricanes (27-18-2) did not have an update after the game.
"I haven't heard too much. It doesn't look good, obviously," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "That's a tough one. I hate to see guys get hurt. It's unfortunate, but that's part of it."
Hamilton got tangled with Columbus forward Kevin Stenlund at the red line. Stenlund's right skate clipped Hamilton's right skate and Hamilton's left knee buckled as he went into the boards with his right knee leading.
The Blue Jackets tied the Hurricanes for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference after being 11 points back on Dec. 7. Columbus is 5-0-1 in its past six games and 13-2-4 in its past 19.
"I think we played really good. I think we just had to find a way, and Nick found it," Merzlikins said. "It was a good two points. It was really hard. They are a quick hockey team, and they are dangerous as well."
Petr Mrazek made 15 saves for the Hurricanes, who have lost two straight after a three-game winning streak.
"It's a tough one. That was probably our best game of the year in terms of playing the way we want to play," Brind'Amour said. "The other team didn't really have a lot. We gave them a couple of chances and they found the net, give them credit. … I think we were the better team."
Emil Bemstrom gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 1:07 of the first period on a wrist shot from the right circle to the upper left corner. Atkinson had the primary assist.
"It was good to get the first assist out of the way on the first shift," Atkinson said. "It settles your nerves a little bit."
The goal came on the Blue Jackets' first shot. They had three the remainder of the period.
Martin Necas scored at 8:38 of the second period to end Merzlikins' shutout streak at 166:29. Necas got out on a breakaway when the stick of Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones broke on a one-timer from Boone Jenner to tie it 1-1.
Atkinson put Columbus ahead 2-1 at 4:51 of the third period.
"When we gave up chances, they were big ones," Staal said. "We created I don't know how many chances. We had the puck the whole game. They obviously blocked a lot of shots, didn't give us much around the net."
Staal tipped a shot from the left point by Teuvo Teravainen at 7:05 of the third to tie it 2-2.
A goal by Columbus' Zach Werenski at 7:43 of the third was overturned by video review after Carolina challenged that Foligno was offside.
"I'm certainly not going to apologize for the win," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We've had a few go the other way."
