The Blue Jackets traveled to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes last night. This game went about as expected, if you've followed this team for very long.
Patience is the name of the game for the Canes. Consequently, that's also the only way to beat them. The Jackets played a pretty patient game for the first 40 minutes last night, and despite a little bit of a disadvantage in the shots category, they were right in it.
Some people thought they played terribly, but I did not feel that to be the case. Not for the first 2 periods. There were some shaky moments in the defensive zone, but from a broad scale, they were doing what they needed to do.
This was especially true early. I thought the Jackets did a terrific job getting out of their own end. One of the things the Canes do to make things so difficult is playing really aggressively.
Early in this one, the strong side defenseman was pinching down to the hash marks in the CBJ end; but the Jackets were prepared for this. The player receiving the puck on the half wall would bump it out to a streaking center.
They effectively beat the Carolina forecheck for the entire first period. As a result, they came out of it in pretty good shape, holding a 1-0 lead thanks to a Dmitri Voronkov power-play goal.
Whether it's fun to watch or not, that's the formula for beating the Hurricanes. You have to play with structure and take advantage of the few opportunities they give you. If you try to do too much, they are going to burn you.
The Jackets found that out the hard way. Rod Brind'Amour made a couple of adjustments and the Canes came out storming in the second period. They started to take the game over almost right away, scoring the tying goal just shy of halfway through.
On that tying goal, Ivan Provorov was clearly tripped along the boards; but the real issue was that the Jackets were slow to recover. Look at how much room Seth Jarvis has to step in and shoot on this play.
The Jackets got caught puck watching for one shift, and the Canes found the net. Then, the crowd was in it, and the rest is a familiar tale.
We have seen this story before.
The Canes reverted back to their original game plan with the game tied, built on aggression and hard work; but also structure. And, with one simple adjustment: instead of pinching into the offensive zone, Brind'Amour had his defensemen taking the wall play away in the neutral zone.
You can see what I'm talking about on the eventual game-winning goal. Dante Fabbro is allowed to skate to neutral ice, which plays directly into what the Canes are trying to do.
Their defenseman cuts off his pass late in the play, which traps Fabbro up the ice and leads to a 2-on-1 rush against Jet Greaves. Of course it's former Blue Jacket Eric Robinson who buries the eventual game-winner:
Hallsy ➡️ Robby pic.twitter.com/eCDWNolD3v
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) December 10, 2025
Just our luck. How many times did we see him fire the puck into the 15th row on these in Columbus?
At that point, the game was over. This Carolina team has bought into their system too well to allow teams to come back late in the third period. Especially when the Jackets took two minor penalties in the final 10 minutes or so, giving them an insurance marker.
The only thing to take away: patience.
The Jackets learned a hard lesson last night. One that we hoped they would have learned by now. They were playing a great game when they kept things simple and didn't try to do too much.
But, the moment they gave up the tying goal, they stretched themselves too thin. Their passes were a little more risky. The defensemen roved a little too much. And they paid the price.
It's frustrating to watch as a fan, but the only thing we can ask is that they figure out how to play a more patient game against teams like this. They have to wait for Carolina to make the mistake, not force one themselves.
The Canes are going to have those shifts where they wear you down and get a few chances. The only way to beat them, is by weathering those moments and coming out without conceding a goal. Patience.
The Jackets did that early, but couldn't keep it up for the full 60 minutes. The end result is clear: another missed opportunity for 2 points.