*Photo from Yourvalley.net*
It had been a long time since Brady Skjei had scored a goal. Over a year. The last goal he scored came against his current team, the Carolina Hurricanes. That drought is over. Skjei scored, Skjei's teammate in Carolina and New York Jesper Fast added a goal as well, and the Hurricanes shut out the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 3-0 win on Monday night.
Skjei started the scoring for the Hurricanes, with his first goal of the season coming at the 9:13 mark of the first period. 6:39 into the second, Fast extended the Hurricanes lead to 2-0 on his 4th goal of the season. A few minutes later, at 8:58, Martin Necas scored his 6th of the season to widen the lead to 3-0, which wasn't given up.
Fast said of the win that "I think we've played pretty good hockey, but tonight we played a complete 60-minute hockey game. We were on the right side, working hard and doing the right things. It was a really good game from all of us."
Alex Nedeljkovic got the start in net for the Hurricanes, and he was fantastic again, notching his second career shutout. Nedeljkovic stopped 19 shots, not facing a heavy shot volume from Columbus, but he stepped up when he had to. Nedeljkovic's record now sits at 7-2-2 this season, including at least a point in his last 6 starts. The Hurricanes sit second in the Central Division, with a 21-7-3 record.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Nedeljkovic's performance that "He's played great. Tonight, again. He didn't get tested too much tonight, which was awesome for us, but when he did, he was really good. He's definitely putting himself in a good light here."
On the other side, Joonas Korpisalo started for the Blue Jackets, getting tagged with the loss. Korpisalo stopped 25 shots out of the 28 that came his way, with his effort being unable to get the job done, with the offense being stoned by Nedeljkovic all night. Korpisalo's record falls to 8-10-5 with the loss, while Columbus sits in 5th in the Central, with a 13-13-7 record.
Blue Jackets defensemen Seth Jones said of the loss that "We just didn't play with enough intensity, especially against a good team like Carolina that had lost three in a row and wanted to get back on track. We couldn't seem to match that pace, really in the second period. They really took it to us there and that's kind of the game."
The Hurricanes and Blue Jackets play again on Thursday, with James Reimer expected to start for the Hurricanes. Korpisalo is slated to go again for the Blue Jackets.
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