COLUMBUS — Kirill Marchenko scored his first NHL hat trick, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in a shootout at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.
Marchenko, who has eight goals in 15 games, is the sixth rookie in Columbus history to score a hat trick.
“For me it was my dream, scoring three goals at home for the fans,” Marchenko said. “Thank you so much to the fans. It was great.”
Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen had dropped Marchenko to the fourth line for the past two games. He played three shifts for a total of 2:51 of ice time in the first period but finished with 13:54 for the game.
“He’s so coachable,” Larsen said. “He wants to learn and it’s not just the offensive side. He’s coming to you with really good questions. He wants to see video on certain things to get better.
“He’s always smiling, he’s always working. He’s a really neat personality to be around. You love to see him, and I like that because the smile just gets bigger. It’s great.”
Kent Johnson had two assists and scored the deciding goal in the fifth round of the shootout for the Blue Jackets (12-24-2), who had lost nine of 10 (1-9-0). Joonas Korpisalo made 39 saves
Video: CAR@CBJ: Marchenko records first hat trick vs. Canes
Max Pacioretty scored his first two goals for the Hurricanes (25-8-7), who have lost three straight after winning 11 in a row. Brady Skjei had a goal and an assist, and Antti Raanta made 15 saves.
“We’re a confident group, and with short-term memory we’ll forget about this,” Skjei said. “It wasn’t our game. We didn’t play the way we needed to play for the whole 60 minutes.
“We just didn’t have quite our A game. It’s obviously nice to get a point, but I think we wanted a better effort and a better result.”
Marchenko gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 7:26 of the second period, scoring a power-play goal on a wraparound at the left post.
“It gave me more confidence, but I got two more goals, just kept shooting,” Marchenko said. “It will be very good for me for the next game.”
Marchenko then made it 2-0 at 9:02 with another power-play goal, this time scoring on a one-timer at the right hash marks after Johnson held the puck at the blue line.
“We can’t take bad penalties,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That’s the killer. Little uncharacteristic things cost us the game. We still could have won the game very easily.”
Pacioretty, who was playing in his second game this season, cut it to 2-1 at 11:20 when his backhand attempt deflected in off a Blue Jackets defenseman. Vladislav Gavrikov.
Skjei tied it 2-2 at 17:18 on a power play after a Columbus defenseman Andrew Peeke‘s clearing attempt caromed to him in the high slot.
Pacioretty gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead at 18:56 with a power-play goal, scoring on a one-timer from a pass off the bottom of the right circle. Andrei Svechnikov.
Video: CAR@CBJ: Pacioretty buries Svechnikov’s dish for PPG
“Even though we got two power-play goals, we got really fortunate on those,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s an area that wasn’t great tonight.”
Marchenko tied it 3-3 at 5:23 of the third period, fighting off a check by Svechnikov along the end boards before shooting five-hole from the left face-off dot.
“That was a big goal in the moment, tied it up 3-3, his third of the night, so we’re super happy,” Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger said. “The guy for sure deserves it, he works super hard. The puck is going in the net for him right now.”
NOTES: Marchenko is the first rookie in the NHL this season to score a hat trick and the first to score two power-play goals in one game. … Hurricanes forward Martin Necas had his seven-game point streak end (four goals, four assists). … Brind’Amour remains one win away from his 200th in the NHL (199-94-35). … Columbus head athletic trainer Mike Vogt participated in his 1,500th NHL game.
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