RALEIGH — Sometimes you need to outscore your mistakes, and the Carolina Hurricanes did just that Thursday night, scoring five second period goals to beat the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 7-4 at Lenovo Center.
Columbus built a two-goal lead after one period, but Carolina exploded for five straight goals — including three 82 seconds — in the middle period to storm past the visiting Blue Jackets and win their fourth straight game.
“We’ve always got confidence in ourselves,” said forward Seth Jarvis, who had a career-high four points, “and I think especially the way we’ve been playing the last … three games, we knew we haven’t been starting great, but it’s gonna come, and it’s kind of what happened.”
The Hurricanes’ comeback started with the team’s struggling power play ending an 0-for-14 drought.
With Columbus defenseman Damon Severson in the box for tripping, Martin Necas gave the puck to Sebastian Aho in the left circle, and Aho zipped it to the far post, where Jarvis had gained position and directed it in for his 17th goal of the season at 2:48 of the middle frame.
“It’s been a real rough ride for us, so it was nice to get one, get a little bit of our swagger back,” Jarvis said of the power play goal.
That cut Columbus’ lead to 2-1 and gave the Hurricanes momentum — and the home team seized on it.
Carolina had the next 11 shots on goal — the Hurricanes outshot the Blue Jackets 43-22 on the night — and scored three quick goals to jump to a 4-2 lead.
Carolina evened the game at 7:11 of the second when Jarvis, on an odd-man rush at the end of his shift, centered a pass that Eric Robinson deflected in for his 11th goal of the year to make it 2-2.
The Hurricanes took the lead 47 seconds later when Jackson Blake’s shot trickled in off Daniil Tarasov (36 saves) for his 11th goal and a 3-2 Carolina lead.
It only took 35 more seconds for the Hurricanes to double their lead when Blake knocked an attempted clearing pass out of the air and set up Aho for a quick shot and goal — his 15th — at 8:33.
Blake had turned the puck over in the first period, leading to Columbus’ first goal of the night.
“It’s more important how you respond,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the rookie’s ability to shake off his mistakes. “It’s always about your next shift, and obviously he made up for it.”
Three minutes after Carolina’s three-goal barrage, the Hurricanes added their fifth goal of the period just as a Blue Jackets power play expired.
Just as his penalty ended to put the game back to 5-on-5, Jordan Staal rushed back into the defensive zone and dislodged the puck from Columbus defenseman Ivan Provorov.
He sent Jarvis and Jordan Martinook on a 2-on-1, and Jarvis floated a pass that Martinook chipped past Tarasov for his ninth goal of the year at 11:34 to extend the Hurricanes’ lead to 5-2.
“(Staal) kind of caught the guy sleeping a little bit and kick-started that whole play,” Jarvis said.
The Blue Jackets didn’t go away quietly, however, getting two similar goals — shots from the left point that were redirected past Frederick Andersen (18 saves) — by James van Riemsdyk and Dmitri Voronokov in 1:22 to cut Carolina’s lead to 5-4.
“I’ve got to do a better job of fighting through all that, but otherwise just move on and get that next one,” said Andersen, who won his 300th career game.
Andersen kept Columbus off the board in the third period, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi gave Carolina an insurance goal — his fourth in three games and 10th of the season — off a Necas pass at 11:13 of the third period to make the score 6-4.
“I’m just a big believer of working hard,” Kotkaniemi said, “and it’s going to pay off at some point.”
Jarvis added an empty-net goal with 1:52 left for his fourth point of the night to seal the win.
“Not a good start and really bad mental breakdowns on a couple of goals. … I’m glad the way we responded, that’s for sure,” Brind’Amour said.
The Hurricanes had dug themselves a 2-0 hole by allowing two goals in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Columbus forward Kent Johnson opened the scoring when Blake turned the puck over at his own blue line, allowing Johnson to sneak behind the Hurricanes defense and slip a shot under Andersen for a 1-0 lead at 7:08 of the first.
The Blue Jackets doubled their lead shortly after when Martinook went for a hit on Kirill Marchenko instead of playing the puck, allowing Marchenko to move into open ice vacated by Brent Burns and finish a pass from Adam Fantilli to make it 2-0 at 9:48.
But the Hurricanes used their ferocious second period to take control and win four straight for the first time since they won eight in a row during the first month of the season.
“We’ve had a couple good games here where we start to look like us again,” Kotkaniemi said. “I think we had a little tough stretch — back and forth, win and lose. So just (trying) to stabilize where we want to be as a team.”
Notes: Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere played 18:21 on the same day his wife gave birth to their son, Dax. … Defenseman Jalen Chatfield was plus 3 and is plus 18 on the season — tied for 13th in the NHL. … Aho had a game-high seven shots on goal and finished with three points. … No Carolina defensemen registered a point, but Andersen recorded an assist, the 16th point of his career. He is now 5-1-0 on the season.
