Let's make it a winning streak

Oilers vs Hurricanes

Today's Goaltenders:

Richard Bachman (39 mins ESSvPct: .889 SvPct: .875) vs. Cam Ward(2,400 mins ESSvPct: .917 SvPct: .911)

Please put your prediction in the subject line like this: Oilers n - Hurricanes n

Please list the Oilers score first, regardless of the team being home or away.

Make your own prediction and do not comment on anyone else's prediction. Any comments that are not in the format above, or in response to someone else's comment will be deleted.

Points distributed as follows:

Predict both teams correctly: 5 points

Predict the Oilers score correctly: 2 points

Predict the opponent's score correctly: 1 points

Your prediction must be submitted by game time. Submissions posted after game time will be deleted.

Points will be tallied throughout the season, and at season's end, we'll award a prize package to the winner. The prize package consists of:

Jeff Petry autographed puck
Edmonton Oilers puck-shaped rug
A set of (4) Edmonton Oilers draught glasses
Edmonton Oilers reversible knit hat (pictured below)
A set of (2) Edmonton Oilers knit can koozies

*Official rules for this contest can be viewed by clicking on this link.

Good Luck, Go Oilers!

Current standings:

Sunday Matinee in Raleigh

	@
18-36-11, 47 points, .724 p/g	Ranks	16-32-10, 42 points, .874 p/g
Western Conference - 14th		Eastern Conference - 15th
29th	P/G	27th
27th	ST	13th
28th	ES	27th
9th	Goal	29th

Putting Chicago On Blast

Edmonton played one of their best games of the year against Chicago on Friday night, but ultimately fell short in the end.  A lot went right for Edmonton on Friday.  They carried the lead until seven minutes into the third, they put up forty-seven shots against Chicago (!), and Ben Scrivens played very, very well.  Brent Seabrook scored his eighth goal of the season with seven minutes remaining in the third period, and Edmonton was unable to put any goals behind Corey Crawford in the shootout.  It was a very good game for the Oilers, but Chicago held on just enough in the end.

The Hurricanes are the last team that Edmonton faced in a playoff game.  Edmonton meets Carolina this afternoon in Raleigh as the road trip continues.

That's Oilers defenceman Mark Fayne on Edmonton's success against Chicago, and what the club will have to do in order to experience success agianst Carolina.

If the Oilers hang 47 shots on Carolina, they'll win this game.  Edmonton has had some success against Chiacgo in recent history, and their effort against Chicago was refreshing even in a loss.

The Opponent is saying

"You've got to play hungry hockey and be more assertive and aggressive than that.  You've got to be mentally tough.  You've got to be an everyday-er.  Your veterans have to lead the way and show the way for the young guys, and everyone falls in step.  We've got to get back on track.  Hopefully today it started, and hopefully the results will show tomorrow."

The pair of young forwards helped give Edmonton an early lead on Sunday.

Despite the Edmonton Oilers' well-documented hardship, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have been progressing well throughout 2014-15.

Eberle, who has a team-high 45 points (15 goals, 30 assists) on the year, helped stake Edmonton to an early lead over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon. The 24-year-old forward created a neutral zone turnover by intercepting a Rasmus Rissanen pass, then sent a dish of his own off the boards to Nugent-Hopkins, who beat Cam Ward on a two-on-one rush.

Nugent-Hopkins now has 17 goals on the year and four points in his last five games.

A season high in goals was enough for the Canes to overcome a hat trick and record their first win in March.

It was a throwback to old-school firewagon hockey on Sunday at PNC Arena. Eleven goals, including two hat tricks, found the back of the net and when the dust settled it was the Carolina Hurricanes skating out with an unlikely seven-spot in a 7-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

Bill Peters, the Canes coach who lit into his team after Friday's loss to Minnesota, was considerably more upbeat after Sunday's in. "We had the puck a lot early," he said. "We had a lot of offensive opportunities. We made more plays. We were more engaged in the game, the bench was better. I just thought everything was more dialed-in all the way around."

From the start, it was obvious that this would be a defense-optional game. The Canes had fired four shots on Richard Bachman before the period was two minutes old, and at the other end the Oilers hit the post and had an odd-man rush broken up.

Following yet another successful penalty kill, the Canes proceeded to allow the first goal for the third straight game. Rasmus Rissanen, playing his second game, failed to get the puck deep on a line change and he turned it over to Jordan Eberle. Eberle sprung Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a two-on-one that was easily converted to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead halfway through the first.

The Canes certainly had their chances to tie the game later in the period. A tripping penalty on Luke Gazdic a couple of minutes after Nugent-Hopkins had scored nearly paid dividends for Jeff Skinner, who had two top-notch chances snuffed out by Bachman. Despite piling 10 shots on net, none of them really threatened the Oilers' goaltender the rest of the way and the Canes took a 1-0 deficit into the locker room.

Even the Canes' vaunted penalty kill, as reliable as Old Faithful lately, was vulnerable on what was quickly turning into a dud of a game. Two penalties, to Alexander Semin for hooking and Eric Staal for goalie interference, resulted in two Oilers' goals in the span of 1:14, Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins doing the honors.

Semin, for his part, made amends for his earlier gaffe with a goal of the year candidate just more than a minute later. His original shot stopped, Semin followed up his own rebound, was checked down to the ice (drawing a penalty that was never enforced), and while facing away from the net face-down he somehow hooked the puck backwards into the net.

"The other guy slashed me in my legs and I went down," Semin told the media. "I just saw the puck and turned it toward the net." (With a description like that, you could be forgiven for thinking that he has done this a few times before.)

Just like in Friday's loss to Minnesota, the Canes controlled play for the better part of the second period, especially getting their legs going after Semin's goal gave the bench a lift. With seven minutes left in the period, Elias Lindholm tipped a Ron Hainsey shot that was going wide past a surprised Bachman and into the back of the net. A minute later, the Oilers' Justin Schultz took an interference penalty, followed by a Teddy Purcell hooking call, giving the Canes a 5-on-3 for 1:07. All of a sudden, what was shaping up to be a miserable afternoon had some life injected into it.

After calling his timeout to set up a play with the two-man advantage, Bill Peters' strategy of "get Jeff Skinner the puck" paid dividends when Skinner duly finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play from Lindholm and Eric Staal to tie the game at 15:23. The Canes then nearly took the lead with ten seconds left, Ryan Murphy nearly beating Bachman on a screened shot, but had to be content with three goals in the period and a tie game headed to the third.

Unlike Friday, when the Canes folded under the pressure of two quick goals to start the third period, this time it was the home team doing work. The Oilers took two penalties, and every time their penalty kill was on the ice it looked progressively worse. Andrej Nestrasil scored his fifth, a snipe from the slot that was completely undefended for some reason, followed five minutes later by Skinner's second of the night on a seeing-eye shot from the top of the near circle.

Not to be outdone, less than a minute later Lindholm scored his second, this one at even strength. The Canes - the Carolina Hurricanes, for heaven's sake - had scored six goals in less than 20 minutes of game time.

However, the game remained defense-optional, and Nugent-Hopkins reminded the Canes that poor turnovers in the defensive zone are still dangerous by scoring his hat-trick goal unassisted after a Jordan Staal turnover at 9:31. By that point, though, the damage had been done, and when Lindholm finished his own hat trick with 1:20 to go the Canes had claimed their first win in the month of March.

The schedule being what it is, the Canes get to take the momentum of this game into the next of a five-games-in-nine-nights stretch, against Columbus on Tuesday. Peters said that the schedule helps his team, especially after a morale-building game like Sunday's.

"I love our schedule. I think we need to take advantage of this five-game homestand, I really do."

After a game like that, it isn't hard to enjoy it.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' hat trick and assist not enough to carry Oilers out of embarrassing 7 - 4 loss.

You always knew it would be thus.

Prior to today the Oilers played a riveting game against the Blackhawks that took them all the way to a shootout. The Oilers naturally wanted to build on that momentum, except they put Richard Bachman in net. And Benoit Pouliot was scratched due to illness. With a case of tankitis, I believe. cough, cough

By the first half of the second period the Oilers had a 3 - 0 lead. Corsi watchers, though, pointed out this wouldn’t last. They pointed more to Cam Ward playing a weak game in the Hurricanes’ net more than anything the Oilers were doing right.

c/o war-on-ice.com:

Sure enough, everything unravelled. The Hurricanes tied the game in six minutes and then continued to roll over the Oilers for the remainder of the game.

Even though Ryan Nugent-Hopkins recorded his second career hat trick for a total of four points this game, it still wasn’t enough to save them from an embarrassing loss.

Oscar Klefbom was curiously nowhere to be seen. Klefbom had a fantastic night against the Blackhawks posting far and away the most shots out of the Oilers. Today he posted zero shots and wound up with a -3 plus/minus. Where did Oscar go?

There’s no use getting upset. Now is the time for calm. This is the defense MacTavish is "reasonably comfortable" moving forward with, guys. So take deep breaths and get used to it. This is what Oilers hockey is going to look like for a long time to come.

First period

Some big pressure by Carolina early in the period.

16:00 Some great opportunities with a Teddy Purcell one-on-one but can’t get his stick on it. Shortly after Matt Hendricks passes to Ryan Hamilton for a one-timer hits the post.
13:19 HURRICANES PENALTYRasmus Rissanen tripping drawn by Derek Roy. Roy back at the blue line looking to make a pass and Rissanen gets a leg under him.
9:41 OILERS GOAL Ryan Nugent-Hopkins assisted by Jordan Eberle. Eberle intercepts a pass along the boards and throws it up for Nuge. 1 - 0 Oilers
8:20 OILERS PENALTYLuke Gazdic tripping drawn by Patrick Dwyer

Shots Oilers 6 - Hurricanes 10

Second period

14:05 HURRICANES PENALTYAlexander Semin hooking drawn by Rob Klinkhammer. Nuge puts the puck in front of an open net to Klinkhammer but his hands are tied up by Semin.
13:15 OILERS POWERPLAY GOAL Jordan Eberle. Richard Bachman makes smart move to not freeze the puck and the play quickly moves back into Hurricane’s zone. A shot from the blueline and Eberele is all alone on the back door to pick up the rebound. 2 - 0 Oilers
12:52 HURRICANES PENALTYEric Staal interference drawn by Richard Bachman. Staal tries to cut in behind the defence, clips Bachman, who may have embellished a bit.
12:01 OILERS GOAL Ryan Nugent-Hopkins assisted by Jordan Eberele. Nuge makes a good hit entering the zone, puck slides over to Eberle in the corner and back to Nuge in front of the net. 3 - 0 Oilers
10:48 HURRICANES GOAL Alexander Semin. Semin picks up his own rebound with Bachman down. Lying on his belly, has a second whack at the puck. Richard Bachman is about to stand back up and the puck goes underneath him. 3 - 1 Oilers
7:00 HURRICANES GOALElias Lindholm. Oilers caught scrambling behind their own net. Puck gets chipped out to Ron Hainsey who backhands it at Bachman. Lindholm bangs in the rebound. 3 - 2 Oilers
5:51 OILERS PENALTYJustin Schultz interference drawn by Alexander Semin
4:57 OILERS PENALTY Teddy Purcell hooking drawn by Alexander Semin. 5 on 3 for the Hurricanes
4:37 HURRICANES POWERPLAY GOALJeff Skinner assisted by Eric Staal. Tied 3 - 3

Shots Oilers 9 - Hurricanes 15

Third period

19:28 OILERS PENALTYMartin Marincin holding drawn by Nathan Gerbe
18:20 HURRICANES GOALAndrej Nestrasil4 - 3 Hurricanes
15:38 PENALTY Nathan Gerbe roughing drawn by Jordan Eberle. Eberle picks up a high sticking minor plus a roughing minor for a total of four minutes.4 minutes for Eberle 2 minutes for Gerbe 5 on 4 for Hurricanes
13:42 HURRICANES POWERPLAY GOAL Jeff Skinner assisted by Ryan Murphy. 5 - 3 Hurricanes
13:11 HURRICANES GOAL Elias Lindholm assisted by Brody Sutter. 6 - 3 Hurricanes
10:29 OILERS GOAL Ryan Nugent-Hopkins HAT TRICK. Eberle checks his man in the corner and the puck trails out to Nuge who slams it in top corner for his second career hat trick. 6 - 4 Hurricanes
1:20 HURRICANES EMPTY NET GOAL Elias Lindholm HAT TRICK. 7 - 4 Hurricanes

Shots Oilers 5 - Hurricanes 10

Total shots Oilers 20 - Hurricanes 35

Up next…

The Oilers move on to their third of five road games against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow, Monday March 9. Expect Nuge to catch a flu bug or food poisoning or something.

Every single Oiler with negative Corsi, negative Fenwick and negative shot share thru 40 minutes. Not so much as a breakeven to be seen

— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) March 8, 2015

Cam Ward has a .750 save percentage and could still win the game. Good grief.

— Matt Henderson (@Archaeologuy) March 8, 2015

Here are your daily links surrounding the Habs and the rest of the hockey world, including Max Pacioretty receiving amazing praise from Mrs. Beliveau, more drama from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Alexander Semin's incredible goal.

Montreal Canadiens Links

• It's no secret that Max Pacioretty is a favourite to become the 29th captain in Habs history. The teams leading scorer continues to emerge as a star, and he has drawn great praise from many including Mrs. Beliveau. She says that he reminds her of Jean, and that she hopes he is the next captain of the team. [TVA]
• It seems as though every day we're talking about yet another accomplishment by Carey Price. He continues to add to his magnificent season, chasing Canadiens legends in the process. [The Gazette]
• We recently heard Jiri Sekac speak out about head coach Michel Therrien and the teams system as a whole. Rene Bourque decided to speak out about his former head coach as well, saying: "Michel Therrien and I didn’t have the best relationship. We didn’t communicate. I didn’t know what he wanted from me, or vice versa." Our Andrew Berkshire offers an interesting take, saying that his gripe with Therrien isn't legitimate. [Eyes On The Prize]
• Pierre Houde speaks about what to expect from the Habs in the remaining 16 games of the season. Houde suggests Price should play about a dozen games the rest of the way (bringing his total to 65), while speaking about what the team might do when Alexei Emelin returns to the lineup. [RDS]

Around the League and Elsewhere

• We just couldn't get through a weekend without more drama from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Fresh off an embarrassing 6-1 defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Blues, forward Nazem Kadri was sent home from Sunday's practice after arriving late. He could be a healthy scratch on Monday. [The Star]
• NHL top prospect Connor McDavid extended his ridiculous point streak to 27 games yesterday. The Erie Otters star notched a pair of assists in a 5-3 victory. [TSN]
• In case you have been living under a rock, McDavid is drawing tons of attention. In fact, he's selling out arenas all across the Ontario Hockey League. [Sportsnet]
• The Pittsburgh Penguins are often praised for their phenomenal offensive ability, but they're also becoming one of the best defensive teams in hockey. [CBS Sports]
• Lastly, It’s been a rather difficult year for Carolina Hurricanes forward Alexander Semin, but there’s no doubt we’ll remember him for this goal of the year candidate. Check out this absolutely incredible no-look spinning goal from his stomach. [SB Nation]

The Hurricanes erased a 3-0 deficit with six straight goals on their way to a 7-4 win Sunday over Edmonton at PNC Arena.

Elias Lindholm netted his first NHL hat trick, Jeff Skinner had two goals for the first time this season, and Alexander Semin submitted his entry for goal of the year in Carolina’s 7-4 win over Edmonton.

Three Observations

1. Semin was at his best Sunday, scoring a ridiculous from-his-stomach goal that ignited the Hurricanes in the second period with the team trailing by three. He then drew two penalties later in the frame that led to a 5-on-3 goal. Semin has three goals and five assists in his last 13 games — hardly a top-line scorer's pace, but still in the ballpark of 20 goals and 50 points over an 82-game season. It's unrealistic to think Semin will ever live up to his salary in the eyes of many, but if he can contribute on a decent level, earn the trust of the coaching staff and keep his confidence up, the 31-year-old winger will be a positive addition despite what the bankrolls say.

2. Rasmus Rissanen’s second NHL game had its ups and downs, but the rookie defender was sure to continue to use his best asset: his physicality. Rissanen followed up an eight-hit night against the Wild with five more vs. the Oilers. Yes, he made the poor pass that led to the first of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ three goals, but mistakes can be expected with a player getting his first taste of the NHL. If he continues to play his game and not back down to avoid mistakes, that's when progress will be made.

3. Nathan Gerbe didn't take kindly to Jordan Eberle’s third-period high stick, dropping his stick and seemingly challenging the Edmonton forward to drop the gloves. The two are in around the same weight class, though Eberle has a six-inch height advantage on the 5'5 Gerbe — the NHL’s smallest player. Still Eberle shied away from engaging the feisty Gerbe, instead taking a matching roughing minor plus the high-sticking infraction. Carolina converted, scoring what wound up being the game-winning goal, and Eberle went home with another loss and some major questions about his toughness.

Number To Know

2 — Power play goals allowed by the Hurricanes, just the third time this the team has give up more than one goal on the penalty kill. The other two times? Believe it or not, they were in the home-and-home losses to the New York Islanders than opened the season on Oct. 10-11.

Plus

Elias Lindholm — Carolina’s youngest player was its best Sunday. Lindholm notched his first career hat trick and had a career-high five points while playing alongside Victor Rask and Eric Staal (who had four assists of his own). It's a nice continuing progression for Lindholm, who has 14 goals and 18 assists (32 points in 63 games) after going 9-12-21 in 58 games as a rookie last year. With Rask now at 22 points in 62 games as a rookie, there's plenty of Swedish optimism to be had.

Minus

Cam Ward— Ward earned the win, his 18th of the season, but has now allowed 11 goals in his past three outings — in just 160 minutes — and has given up at least three goals in nine of his past 15 starts. The good news is Carolina is still 8-5-2 in those games.

Coming off a big win on Sunday, the Canes line-up is likely to stay intact. Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets continue to be challenged by injuries.

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
March 10, 2015 - 7:00 pm ET
PNC Arena - Raleigh, NC
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - The Cannon

Fancy Stats

Stats via NHL.com and War on Ice

Game Notes

• For the second straight game, the Carolina Hurricanes are battling an opponent for position in league standings. The Columbus Blue Jackets are a point ahead of the Canes in the Metro division with one more game played and a win tonight by the Canes would move them up in the division and into 25th place overall.
• This is the third of four meetings this season between the teams. The Canes won both prior games (home and away) back in November, one of those games decided in overtime by none other than yesterday's hat trick star, Elias Lindholm.
• The NHL basement achieved a milestone Sunday evening when the Sabres became the first team to be officially eliminated from playoff contention, and with back-to-back losses to the Canes and the Red Wings, the Oilers were officially eliminated last night. For those keeping track of such things, the Canes' elimination (aka 'tragic') number is 18, the calculation being the maximum number of points the Canes can be awarded (93 as of this writing), minus the number of points attained by the bubble team (76 by Boston), plus one (18). A combination of 18 points lost by the Canes or gained by the team in the last wild card spot will finish them off mathematically. HFBoards has a thread that keeps track of magic and tragic numbers across the league with daily status updates in its first post.
• After coming back from a three-goal deficit in Sunday's 7-4 win against the Oilers, head coach Bill Peters didn't see much that needed tinkering at yesterday's practice, so the forward lines and defensive pairings didn't change. Peters did mention in post-game audio that he would continue to move players around for evaluation, so there may be a few tweaks at today's morning skate.
• Jack Hillen's upper body injury has been confirmed as a concussion, and he'll be out for the foreseeable future as he progresses through the protocol.
• The Blue Jackets are starting a two-game road trip after a 4-0 home loss to Avalanche on Saturday. As has been the story line for the whole season, injuries are creating a questionable line-up for tonight. More information will be available after the morning skate. The Blue Jackets have already lost 420 man-games to injury this season, a franchise record.
• At yesterday's practice, Jared Boll left practice after being hit by a puck, Fedor Tyutin missed due to illness, and Alexander Wennberg was "banged up" and did not skate. All are traveling to Raleigh but their status for tonight is unknown. Luke Adam has been recalled on an emergency basis if a forward is needed.
• Defensemen Ryan Murray and Kevin Connauton have previously been out of the line-up recovering from injuries but have returned to practice. Neither has been ruled out for tonight's game.
• As of the trade deadline, the Blue Jackets have a defenseman on their roster by the name of Justin Falk. FALK. F.A.L.K.
• The Canes will face Sergei Bobrovsky for the first time this season. Bobrovsky was injured when the teams faced each other in November, and returned to action a week ago after recovering from a groin injury. He played for two periods in Saturday's game in relief of Curtis McElhinney.

Projected line-ups

Hurricanes (from Monday's practice)

Injuries and Scratches: Jack Hillen (concussion), Chris Terry, Brett Bellemore

Injuries and Scratches: Boone Jenner (IR back), Jeremy Morin (IR heart), Ryan Murray (IR ankle), Jack Skille (IR shoulder), Matt Calvert (IR concussion), Kevin Connauton (lower body), David Clarkson (torn oblique), Brian Gibbons

The Jackets and Canes go at it with some draft pick status on the line...

Columbus Blue Jackets at Carolina Hurricanes

March 7, 2015 - 7:00 pm EST
PNC Arena - Raleigh, North Carolina
Radio - WBNS 97.1 FM - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: Canes Country

Stop me if you've heard this one: the Blue Jackets have lost another player to injury. This time it may be Scott Hartnell, who is not on the ice for morning skate. Luke Adam has been brought up on emergency recall, and drew in for Hartsy for the morning skate. We shall see. It does look like Alexander Wennberg, Kevin Connauton, and Jared Boll should all be good to go tonight, as is Fedor Tyutin who has been battling illness.

The Canes currently sit just one point behind Columbus with a game in hand, so the draft status is very much in play over these next two games between the two teams over the next six days. The Canes have been playing better of late, including a 7-4 thumping of Edmonton on Sunday. The plot thickens!

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets 
(27-34-4, 58 Points; 7th division, 13th conference)

Carolina Hurricanes
(25-32-7, 57 Points; 8th Division, 15th Conference)

Season Series

CAR - 2-0-0
CBJ - 0-1-1

11/04/14 - Carolina 4 at Columbus 2
11/07/14 - Columbus 2 at Carolina 3 (OT)
03/10/15 - Columbus at Carolina
03/15/15 - Carolina at Columbus

Head to Head Stats

The Jackets and Canes go at it with some draft pick status on the line...

Columbus Blue Jackets at Carolina Hurricanes

March 7, 2015 - 7:00 pm EST
PNC Arena - Raleigh, North Carolina
Radio - WBNS 97.1 FM - TV - Fox Sports Ohio
Opponent's Blog: Canes Country

Stop me if you've heard this one: the Blue Jackets have lost another player to injury. This time it may be Scott Hartnell, who is not on the ice for morning skate. Luke Adam has been brought up on emergency recall, and drew in for Hartsy for the morning skate. We shall see. It does look like Alexander Wennberg, Kevin Connauton, and Jared Boll should all be good to go tonight, as is Fedor Tyutin who has been battling illness.

The Canes currently sit just one point behind Columbus with a game in hand, so the draft status is very much in play over these next two games between the two teams over the next six days. The Canes have been playing better of late, including a 7-4 thumping of Edmonton on Sunday. The plot thickens!

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets 
(27-34-4, 58 Points; 7th division, 13th conference)

Carolina Hurricanes
(25-32-7, 57 Points; 8th Division, 15th Conference)

Season Series

CAR - 2-0-0
CBJ - 0-1-1

11/04/14 - Carolina 4 at Columbus 2
11/07/14 - Columbus 2 at Carolina 3 (OT)
03/10/15 - Columbus at Carolina
03/15/15 - Carolina at Columbus

Head to Head Stats

Canes score three times in opening period but Jackets come back to tie, then win in shootout

The Carolina Hurricanes scored just 36 seconds into the game and then jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period, but wilted as the game went on and lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday night at the PNC Arena.

Justin Faulk had another big game as the defenseman scored a goal and added two assists for the home team.

To start the game, Faulk made a sweet move to get open at the blueline, found an open lane, then beat Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0, early.

Victor Rask would then score a powerplay goal off a feed by Faulk, 12:47 into the period and the home team was rocking.

There were a lot of penalties called in this game and both teams would take advantage.  Rene Bourque tipped in a Cam Atkinson shot during a Columbus powerplay chance later in the first period, for the first of three powerplay goals by the visitors.

That makes five powerplay goals allowed in the past two games for the leading penalty kill unit in the league, (they were number one to start the night.)  Coach Bill Peters was not impressed, although since Andrej Sekera and Tim Gleason have been traded, there is new personnel on the kill.

Bellemore and Jordan were the defensemen for the first, Faulk and Hainsey for the second, and Murphy and Hainsey for the third.

Peters said after the game that they will continue to work on it.  "What was once a strength is now a weakness," the coach said.

The Canes would score another powerplay goal themselves when Eric Staal got a stick on a Ryan Murphy blast with just 9.6 seconds left in the first.  Murphy was originally credited with the goal, but the scoring was changed to Staal after review.  Faulk set that one up as well.

Bobrovsky would settle down after that period and would not allow another goal the rest of the way.

Scott Hartnell scored twice, both powerplay goals, one in the second and one in the third to tie the score.

The Jackets ramped up their physicality in the second period as well.  Elias Lindholm was the recipient of a big hit by Jack Johnson along the boards and Jeff Skinner was dumped in the Jacket's bench at one point.

Columbus out-hit Carolina 51-33 for the game as they tried to take over the contest with their size and physicality.

Neither team was able to do much in the overtime period.  At one point, Eric Staal broke into the clear but Bobrovsky made the save as the Captain took the shot.  That was the only shot on goal in overtime for the Canes.

In the shootout, Cam Ward made the first two stops on Letestu and Anisimov, but Ryan Johansen made a slow, backhanded move for the game winner.

"Bob the goalie" made all the saves at the other end on Lindholm, Rask, and Skinner.

The Hurricanes are now 1-1-1 on this homestand and will next take on the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

Game Notes:

• Brett Bellemore had a team high six hits.  He also had a team high three giveaways. 
  
• Both teams generated 32 shots on goal for the game.  Eric Staal led the way with six. 
  
• Hainsey had a team high four blocked shots.
• Faulk was the game's first star.  He had a team high 23:50 of ice time, had a goal, two assists, two takeaways and two blocked shots.

The Jackets went down hard in the first period against the Carolina Hurricanes, but after a little bit of emotion and a lot of good work on the power play, they brought themselves all the way back before defeating the Canes in a shootout.

With the way this season has gone, fans could be forgiven for watching the Jackets skate out to face the Hurricanes down in Raleigh, see Justin Faulk (not Falk) score a goal against a badly screened Sergei Bobrovsky in the first thirty seconds of the game, and changing the channel.

An early goal against has been the sign of a long night to come for much of the year, and through the first period, it didn't look like it was going to be any different.

Carolina kept finding holes in the Jackets defensive coverage, putting pressure on Bobrovksy, and eventually put Fedor Tyutin in the box after he had to do some stickwork to keep Eric Staal from capitalizing on another scoring chance.

The ensuing power play looked oddly similar to Carolina's first goal, drawing the PK down to the near side boards, and opening up Victor Rask for a wide open shot from the far faceoff dot that would give the Canes a 2-0 lead.

It wasn't all doom and gloom, though - in fact, the one positive in the period would be the Columbus power play finally cashing in after what seems like a month of futility. Late in the power play, with former Jacket Ron Hainsey in the box thanks to Brandon Dubinsky drawing a tripping call, David Savard lead a zone entry, skating it in deep and then moving to set up a cycle. Dubinsky would get the puck over to Cam Atkinson, who slid around the far side before firing a shot from the half boards that would redirect off Rene Bourque's stick and in, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

The team celebrated Bourque's first as a Jacket briefly, but found themselves back on the kill almost immediately after when Marko Dano was called for a slash on Jeff Skinner.

The Carolina power play wasn't as organized this time around, but they had a very similar game plan, and it worked again - force the defenders deep, build a screen around Bob to one side, then kick the puck up to the opposite corner, where in this case Eric Staal was waiting to deliver a booming shot that would restore the Hurricanes' 2 goal lead with just a few seconds left in the frame.

It was a frustrating scene to watch, and clearly Sergei had enough, as he slammed his stick down to the ice after the goal and gave Dalton Prout an earful of his displeasure.

Hard to say what was said in the locker room in between periods, but I suspect it had a lot of expletives mixed with "I am TIRED of this."

To their credit? The team listened.

They hit the ice skating, with Alexander Wennberg drawing a penalty on his first shift back out, and even though it took most of the penalty, the power play once again cashed in, this time with Scott Hartnell going to the net after a #HartnellDown and digging around Cam Ward to poke the loose puck into the net.

The team couldn't quite clear themselves out of the hole that they'd dug, but there were clear signs of improvement - for one thing, they killed two more Carolina penalties without furthering their deficit.

That set the team up for a third period where they were looking for one more goal, and yet another power play would help them find it, this time thanks to Scott Hartnell drawing a cross checking call from Justin Faulk, and it would be Hartnell who came up with the goal once again, this time working off the faceoff dot to collect a rebound from Artem Anisimov's doorstep attempt and popping it over Ward's shoulder before the former Conn Smythe winner could get back into position.

The 3-3 tie lasted through the end of regulation, and though the Jackets had some very good chances in OT, including an attempt by Hartnell to complete the hat trick in the dying seconds of the extra frame, we' d be off to a shootout.

Both goalies were excellent in that extra frame, with Bobrovsky stopping Elias Lindholm, and Rask, while Ward stoned Mark Letestu and Artem Anisimov, leaving Ryan Johansen with the final attempt for Columbus.

He took the ice with a chance to give his team the win, and it. was. FILTHY.

Carolina had a chance to force more shooters with Jeff Skinner, but Bob wasn't having any of that.

It was an improbable, shocking, surprising result, but the team needed this - no matter what you think about the philosophy of tanking, there's nothing fun about being in a room where you've lost every game. You need those moments of success - of effort being rewarded - to keep things from becoming toxic.

In his postgame remarks, Coach Richards said he didn't like seeing Bobrovsky lose his cool on the ice, and I see his point, but at the same time, I think this was the turning point of the game for a lot of reasons. Not only did it clearly yank the team out of their doldrums, letting that anger out rather than simply bottling it up or turning it inwards is always going to be healthier. Get it out in the open, let some fresh air in, and get going again.

I'm not saying Bob should pull a Tuukka every game, but it was effective. Still, let's hope the team can handle Detroit on Thursday WITHOUT requiring a meltdown this time.