In Columbus, the Blue Jackets were no match for the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, who were looking to end a four0game skid.
Frederik Andersen made 21 saves in his first game back for the Canes in a 6-2 win to end the schneid.
“He was good, made a couple of nice saves, kept us going in the right direction,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Andersen. “He’s steady. That’s what you need, that’s the way he plays. He looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. I give him a lot of credit.
“Listen, we were all a little nervous [about] how it was going to go because he hasn’t played forever, [but] good for him to bounce back. We needed it.”
Brett Pesce, who had a double for the Canes, and Brent Burns scored to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Carolina improved to 26-9-7.
Columbus cut it to 2-1 with a marker from Sean Kuraly before the end of the period.
“We’re finding ways to have good pockets, but we can’t fall asleep and have lapses,” Kuraly said. “It’s something we’re trying to work on, but it is frustrating.”
Carolina pushed the lead back to two with a shorthanded strike by Jalen Chatfield in the middle frame.
“The power play is supposed to create momentum,” Columbus’ Johnny Gaudreau said. “Whether you score or don’t score, you want momentum.”
It stayed that way until 8:02 of the third period when Pesce hit for his second of the game and a 4-1 advantage to Carolina.
Columbus dropped to 12-27-2.
“For us to play that way for two periods. You just can’t win,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “We’ve got to simplify things. The second period was just way too cute again, the turnovers, especially against that team.”
Jaccob Slavin pushed the lead out to 5-1 on a goal at 14:55.
Gaudreau scored 32 seconds later later to make it 5-2.
Carolina replied 18 seconds after that goal on a marker form Seth Jarvis for the 6-2 final.
“They’re our bread and butter back there,” Brind’Amour said. “The fact we haven’t had a ton of goals back there is kind of shocking because they’ve had a ton of chances. It was coming. It was nice to see.”
Joonas Korpisalo made 35 saves in the Blue Jackets loss.
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