Blue Jackets tie it late, top Hurricanes in shootout for 3rd win in row

COLUMBUS -- Kirill Marchenko’s second goal of the game tied it with 1:06 remaining in the third period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in a shootout at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.

Marchenko tied it 4-4 at 18:54 with Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins pulled for the extra attacker.

“It's a great team against us, Carolina, they play really hard too,” Marchenko said. “We win because we work harder and play harder. We’ll just go onto the next game and try to do the same thing.”

Dante Fabbro and Dmitri Voronkov scored, and Kent Johnson had two assists for the Blue Jackets (9-9-2), who have won three in a row and four of five. Merzlikins made 32 saves.

Sean Monahan scored the only goal in the first round, and Merzlikins made three saves in the shootout, including against Sebastian Aho on the final attempt to win it.

“We stuck with it,” Monahan said. “I thought we gave a little bit too much up at times, but at the end of the day, we found a way to win. We're learning, and slowly we're finding ways to win games, coming back and getting one late and then finishing overtime or shootouts is a start. So, it's a good sign.”

Aho had a goal and an assist, and Martin Necas had two assists for the Hurricanes (14-5-1), who have lost two in a row. Pyotr Kochetkov made 27 saves before being injured at 3:52 of overtime when the knee of Carolina defenseman Sean Walker appeared to hit him in the head. Spencer Martin made one save in relief.

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour did not have an update.

“I don’t know where we’re at with that,” Brind’Amour said. “It didn’t look great, but we’ll find out, I guess, at some point.”

Fabbro gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 2:04 of the first period. He scored with a wrist shot on the rush after picking up the puck in the defensive zone and skating into the left circle.

“We're starting to see the results that we want to see,” Fabbro said. "We’ve got to continue with it and show up every day and put our best foot forward.”

Jack Roslovic tied it 1-1 at 6:41 on a shot from the right circle off a pass by Aho for his team-best 12th goal of the season. He extended his goal streak to three games.

Marchenko put Columbus ahead 2-1 at 10:20 with his first goal of the game, scoring on a breakaway with his wrist shot going in off the left post.

“We started right. Started hard,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “That's a really good hockey team that we played tonight, and we are too. If we work as hard as we did tonight, we give ourselves a chance.”

Jalen Chatfield tied it 2-2 at 5:40 of the second period on a shot near the right post.

“We gave them two goals in the first,” Necas said. “It’s always better playing with the lead than chasing.”

Voronkov gave the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead at 7:10 with a power-play goal after Zach Werenski kept the puck in the zone at the right point.

Aho scored 11 seconds into a power play to tie it 3-3 at 10:39, one-timing a cross-ice pass by Necas from the right circle.

Jackson Blake gave the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead at 13:23 with a wrist shot from the slot.

The Hurricanes then killed a double-minor for high-sticking to Aho that began at 11:55 of the third.

“We’ve got to get the job done,” Chatfield said. “I thought we played pretty good. Six-on-five they’ve got the advantage, but we’ve been a pretty good team over the years at that. They got the bounce on that.”

NOTES: Werenski has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) during a five-game point streak. … Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly played his 500th NHL game. … Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov has an assist in four straight games. … Necas has 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) for the most through 20 games in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history. He entered the game tied with Eric Staal (14 goals, 17 assists in 2005-06) and Pierre Larouche (15 goals, 16 assists in 1981-82) for the previous record of 31 points.