Good lord.
Not to belabor the point, but that was absolutely awful.
The Blue Jackets lost 2-1 at PNC Arena to the Carolina Hurricanes, and the best news coming out of the game is that it's over. Finally. Almost nothing of note happened during the game, other than the Hurricanes scoring two goals and the Blue Jackets scoring once.
Sergei Bobrovsky played well. Alexander Wennberg scored for the Blue Jackets, who were solid at 5-on-5 but fell to 20-12-1 on the season.
DEFENSIVE BREAKDOWNS
A pair of own-zone mistakes cost the Blue Jackets in a game that was decided by the thinnest of margins. With little spare ice to work with and few opportunities on either side, cleanliness was important and the Blue Jackets made one more error than the Hurricanes.
Jack Johnson scored into his own net, giving Carolina the opening goal on a centering pass from Jordan Staal. Bad break, but you can get past those.
In the second period, Alexander Wennberg inadvertently redirected a pass on Bobrovsky, who had to react quickly to keep the puck out of his net. The follow-up, though, was slammed home by Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin, which was the deciding goal in the game.
SOLID NIGHT FOR BOB
The Hurricanes didn't have many chances, but a few of them were high-quality. Bobrovsky was strong, and made a couple of key saves to stem the tide and give the Blue Jackets a chance to get their game going.
After a handful of games where Bobrovsky was beaten three times or more, this was a strong outing for him and it helped the Blue Jackets in a game where patience was paramount.
BOOOOOORING
There's not much else to say.
These games against Carolina are rough. There's no flow, little excitement, and even with the Hurricanes playing the second night of a back-to-back, there wasn't much in the way of dangerous chances for the Blue Jackets.
"They capitalized on their chances and we didn't," Cam Atkinson said. "We made it easy for them."
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