Hurricanes 4, Blue Jacket 3 - (OT)

The Carolina Hurricanes blew a 3-0 lead but Jordan Staal faked pass and then lit the lamp 2:45 into the extra period to help the Canes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena.

The win gives Carolina an 18-18-7 record and puts them just three points outside of a current playoff spot as they jockey for position with several teams.

The Canes took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period when Andrej Nestrasil blasted in a shot during a Carolina powerplay.  He was set up nicely when Elias Lindholm fed him a perfect saucer pass.

The visitors made it 2-0 just 1:27 into the second when Kris Versteeg took a nice feed from Eric Staal to the net.

About six minutes later, John-Michael Liles buried a rebound making it 3-0 and it seemed the rout was on, but the Jackets would have something to say.

Later in the second, Cam Atkinson scored on a breakaway, short-handed to make it 3-1.

In the third, the Jackets cranked up the pressure.  Alexander Wennberg caught Cam Ward out of the net a bit too far to make it 3-2 and Josh Anderson scored his first career NHL goal to tie the game.

The Canes had another chance with a powerplay near the end of the game but could not solve goalie, Joonas Korpisalo, who seemed to improve as the game went on

Coach Bill Peters went with the "defensive first" strategy again in the overtime as he consistently played two defensemen with one forward.  This time the strategy worked as Jaccob Slavin worked the puck out to Jordan Staal, who took it away from Brandon Saad and then broke into the Columbus zone to win it.

The Hurricanes outshot the Blue Jackets 30-24 for the game but the Jackets had more scoring chances.  The team will return home and will next take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at the PNC on Tuesday night.

Game Notes:

• Versteeg's goal gave him 300 career points, a nice milestone for the winger.
• Brad Malone dropped the gloves with Jared Boll, who continued to hit him when down on the ice.  Malone was given the "belt" after the game, an award given by the team to one of the game's MVP's.
• Nestrasil led the team with six shots on goal.  Eric Staal was next with five.
• The Canes had 20 blocked shots and were led by Liles with four.
• Event Summary