COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was fitting that this Columbus Blue Jackets’ win happened on New Year’s Eve, ending just an hour or so before the ball was dropped on 2025.
There was an obvious reason to celebrate: The Blue Jackets rallied from a third-period deficit to force overtime, then won a four-round shootout to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 before a crowd of 17,712 in Nationwide Arena. The Jackets are 4-1-1 in their last six.
But there was also hope for the new year, and well beyond. You couldn’t miss it.
Two 24-year-old forwards — Kirill Marchenko (two goals) and Dmitri Voronkov (one) — did the damage in regulation. Adam Fantilli, 20, had the shootout winner to open the fourth round, the first of his NHL career. Kent Johnson, 22, scored a do-or-die goal in the third round of the shootout to keep the game alive.
And yes, that was 20-year-old defenseman Denton Mateychuk drawing two shifts during three-on-three overtime, a major show of confidence from coach Dean Evason.
But above all, Evason was most pleased by the way the Blue Jackets comported themselves in the face of one of the NHL’s fastest, most relentless and most structured clubs. The Hurricanes carried play for long stretches, especially in the first two periods, but the Blue Jackets absorbed blows without getting knocked out.
What would the score have been last season? The year before?
“Hopefully, it’s a wonderful sign moving forward,” Evason said. “We’ve handled adversity up to this point (this season), and you’re going to have to handle a lot more.
“To do it against that team … such a good hockey team. They put so much heat on us. We didn’t handle it in areas, but at the end of the day, we get the job done. We were resilient. We stayed the course. There was no panic for us on the bench, and that’s exciting for us.”
With the Blue Jackets trailing 3-2 after a difficult second period, Evason said the coaches huddled and contemplated tweaks to the Jackets’ approach, something that might help them get through the Hurricanes’ thicket-like neutral zone alignment, maybe even with the puck occasionally on their sticks.
“We talked after the second. … ‘Should we … not change but just flip something around a bit?’” Evason said. “We decided to just stay the course and not change our philosophy or thought process. We got the power-play goal (by Voronkov), and that helped us, obviously.”
Adam Fantilli scores the deciding goal in the shootout! #CBJ pic.twitter.com/PlCAhIUN6v
— FanDuel Sports Network Columbus (@FanDuelSN_CBUS) January 1, 2025
Marchenko scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season in the first period. At 4:48, Marchenko was found by Sean Monahan in the lower left circle for a one-timer that beat Carolina goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov. At 15:43, Marchenko fired from the right wall just as Kochetkov tumbled backward in his crease, the puck sailing over him into the net.
After that, scoring chances were hard to come by for the Blue Jackets. Getting to the neutral zone was its own challenge, much less gaining the red line. The Blue Jackets were called for icing 10 times in the first two periods.
It felt like Carolina might pull away in the second when former Jackets forward Jack Roslovic scored at 5:47 to make it 2-2, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi followed at 8:18 to give the Hurricanes their first lead of the night, 3-2. But the Jackets managed to drag it into the second intermission without further damage.
Voronkov was looking for Marchenko with a pass across the Royal Road early in the third period, but his pass instead deflected off Carolina’s Seth Jarvis and into the net.
“It’s always super satisfying to get any win,” Johnson said. “But it’s especially fun when you’re one down to win like this. That was fun.”
The Blue Jackets’ first two shooters in the shootout were denied. Monahan was stoned by Kochetkov’s right pad, and Damon Severson’s entire body was blocked by Kochetkov when the goalie came roaring out of his net for a pokecheck that was closer to a bodycheck.
Sick Kent Johnson shootout move..pulls it wide then slings it on the ice. High level stuff. He had to score there. Columbus goes to win shootout. They have 38 points. 2 points out of the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/DXejHHf3M7
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) January 1, 2025
After Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov scored in the second round, Johnson had to score in the third to keep it alive. No pressure there, right? Johnson made a dizzying series of moves before rifling the puck between Kochetkov’s pads.
“I tried not to think about it,” Johnson said. “Just a normal shootout attempt is all I tried to do.
“(We saw) in our pre-scout, and Marchy reminded me on the bench, that this guy likes to pokecheck. It was good to have that in the back of my mind. I thought he wouldn’t do it back-to-back (after Severson). It wasn’t as hard as he tried on Sevo, but I think he tried it on me, too.”
Fantilli took good notes, too. He fired through Kochetkov’s five-hole to put the Jackets ahead in the shootout. When Elvis Merzlikins stopped Carolina’s Sebastian Aho — no small feat there — the win was clinched.
If you want more reason to look ahead with optimism, there’s this: With Tuesday’s win, the Jackets are just 2 points behind the Ottawa Senators, who hold the final wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
(Photo of Adam Fantilli celebrating his game-winning shootout goal: Russell LaBounty / Imagn Images)
