This game boiled down to about five to ten minutes of play where the Hurricanes did not dominate the BlueJackets, a scary looking injury to Cam Ward, and the fact that Steve Mason was crazy good last night making big save after big save, with little or no help from the defense.

 The first period was back and forth until the 7:35 mark of the first period when Rick Nash came across the crease and his skate caught between Ward’s leg pads. When Ward tried to get up he knew something was wrong. He immediately called for the trainer, who escorted him off the ice, with a trail of blood following. Ward was taken to the hospital for overnight observation. He will likely leave for Raleigh today. Michael Leighton replaced Ward in goal.

 Not more than a minute and a half later Eric Cole received a pass from M. Cullen, which he slapped past Mason high stick side. From there it was all Carolina for the next 30 minutes of the game. The second period was highlighted by tons of great stops from Mason, a big 5-on-3 penalty kill, and lots of play in the CBJ end of the ice. There were no goals scored in the second period, but a lot of chance, especially by the Hurricanes.

 The third period started out fast and furious, with the 3^rd and 4^th lines of the Jackets dictating play. Fifty seconds into the third period, Carolina's Brandon Sutter fanned on a clearing attempt and Derek Dorsett’s blind, no-look centering feed found Filatov who was crashing the net.

  Just over 2 minutes later, Boll was skating along the short boards in front of the Carolina bench when Joe Corvo lost his stick while trying to poke the puck away. Boll sped past Corvo and was all alone with Leighton, beating him inside the near post for his first of the year. It actually looked like Boll knew what he was doing!!!!(This was NHL on the Fly’s Highlight of the Night!!!)

  At this point it was all Columbus, when Rick Nash finished off the Jacket’s scoring when 36 seconds after the Boll goal he intercepted a pass Tim Gleason outlet pass. He immediately spun towards the goal and beat Leighton for the jackets last goal to make it 3-1.

  Again the jackets had problems holding the lead, with less than eight minutes left in the game, Gleason beat Mason as time expired on a Rusty Klesla boarding penalty.

  But Mason turned in a HUGE 3^rd period to get the first star of the game. Folks, it looks like Mase might be getting back to his old self, stealing games when the rest of the team can’t get it done. Big win for the FIRST PLACE BLUE JACKETS. THAT’S RIGHT FIRST PLACE IN THE CENTRAL!!!!!!!! Let’s keep it up boys!!!!

Game Notes:

The Hurricanes, who lost their sixth in a row overall, have not won since a 7-2 victory over Florida on Oct. 9. Since then, they have gone 0-9-3, eclipsing an 11-game winless streak in 2003. They are also winless in their last nine road games (0-7-2) and remain the only NHL team without a victory away from home.

Carolina led 1-0 going into the third period - only the second time all season they've led with one period left. Columbus was 0-4 when trailing through two periods.

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