Canes Pick up a Point in a Tough Road Loss to Columbus

Man. I am starting to miss the Canes. They have been on the road for too long. They left last week for their California road trip, and they just played in Columbus (Ohio) last night.

Luckily, the Canes return home tomorrow afternoon, as they take on the Chicago Blackhawks at 1:00 P.M. In this game, the Canes have a chance to snap their season-long three-game losing streak and continue their point streak (from Thursday).

On Sunday, look for a recap article from me on that game. For now, I want to talk about last night’s clash in Columbus.

The Canes played well in this game. They scored three goals through two periods. They were tied with the Blue Jackets heading into the third period, with a golden chance to take the lead. The Canes had multiple power play opportunities in the third period. Historically, the Canes have been bad on the power play, but this year is a different story, as they have converted on over one-fifth of their opportunities.

The Canes, however, showed flashes of last year’s struggling play in the third period, as they did not convert on a single of their three opportunities. On two of those power plays, the Blue Jackets were able to skate into the Canes zone and get shots off on Petr Mrazek. One of the power plays saw the Canes create great opportunities, getting multiple shots off of their own on Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo.

The Blue Jackets killed off all three penalties in this game. After holding the Canes scoreless in the third period, the Blue Jackets looked like the more dominant team in the overtime period. Cam Atkinson gave the Blue Jackets the victory 3:28 into overtime, and the Canes would drop their third straight game.

This one hurts a little bit more, not only because the Blue Jackets beat us for our first loss of the season, but also because our offense put us up 3-1 in the first period. After the Blue Jackets scored an early goal from Alexandre Texier, the first-ever NHL player drafted out of France, the Canes stormed back with three goals of their own from Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Dzingel, and Sebastian Aho (in that respective order).

The Blue Jackets struck back in the second period, as Ryan Murray scored 12:57 into the frame, and Sonny Milano put home the equalizer with 2:37 remaining. Add on the Atkinson goal, and the Blue Jackets took round two.

We finally return home tomorrow, where we will play for four straight games. We historically play well at home, and I expect at least two wins from our boys.

Take Warning.