Hurricanes Cap Off 20th Anniversary Celebration with 4-1 Win Over Blue Jackets

The Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first of four meetings during the 2025-26 season. The Hurricanes were playing in their second game honoring the 20th Anniversary of the 2005-06 Stanley Cup team. They were looking to bounce back from their 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, Dec. 7. The Blue Jackets were looking to snap their two-game losing streak after losses to the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals. After the final horn, the Hurricanes defeated the Blue Jackets 4-1.

Game Recap

The first period saw the Blue Jackets take the lead with just a little over seven minutes left in the period. The first goal of the game came on the power play as Dmitri Voronkov tapped in a pass from Sean Monahan to get it past Brandon Bussi. His 11th of the season came after some nifty passing from Kirill Marchenko and Monahan, who notched their 15th and 12th assists of the season, respectively.

The Hurricanes outshot the Blue Jackets 9-6 in the first 20 minutes, but saw themselves down 1-0 at home. Despite getting power-play opportunities, they were unable to capitalize. On the flipside, the Blue Jackets went 1-for-1 on their lone opportunity.

Carolina Hurricanes Celebrate — Carolina Hurricanes players celebrate their victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets (James Guillory-Imagn Images)

The second period saw the Hurricanes tie the game up just before the halfway point of the middle frame. After some great puck movement, Andrei Svechnikov circled the net and found Seth Jarvis, who was open between the circles. Following a clean pass from Svechnikov, Jarvis snapped the puck past Jet Greaves for his team-leading 17th goal of the season. It was a much-needed goal to get the Hurricanes and the Lenovo Center going.

The ice started to tilt in the Hurricanes’ favor as they had the last 10 shots of the period. They did not let the Blue Jackets have a shot in the last 11 minutes of the second period. The game went into the third period tied 1-1, with the Hurricanes outshooting the Blue Jackets 13-8 (22-14 overall).

The third period saw three goals, all from the Hurricanes. Eric Robinson gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the game after getting a nifty pass from Taylor Hall, who forced the turnover to spring the team on a 2-on-1 opportunity. Robinson roofed it bardown on Greaves to make it 2-1, leading to it being the game-winning goal.

Jordan Staal, in back-to-back games, scored on the power play, making it 3-1 on his ninth goal of the season. The last time he had back-to-back games with a power-play goal was back in February 2021. The final goal of the period, and the game, came on a shorthanded, empty net marker from Jordan Martinook. His fourth of the season made it 4-1, icing the game for the Hurricanes.

The 4-1 win for the Hurricanes put them 18-9-2 on the season. Bussi notched his ninth win in 10 starts and his seventh consecutive win. The Blue Jackets are now on a three-game losing streak following the loss to the Hurricanes.