Kirill Marchenko's hat trick helps Blue Jackets top Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in shootout

In a season that has been devoid of feel-good moments for the Blue Jackets, Kirill Marchenko's ear-to-ear grin will be a lasting memory.

The rookie forward tallied the first hat trick of his career — and the first hat trick by any rookie in the NHL this season — in Saturday's 4-3 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes, and Marchenko's sheer delight at his accomplishment was palpable. After his third goal, which tied the game at 5:23 of the third period, the sellout crowd of 18,663 at Nationwide Arena gave Marchenko an ovation as his grin grew, and grew, and grew.

"You love to see him have a night like that, because the smile just gets bigger," coach Brad Larsen said. "It’s great."

Marchenko scored his first goal at 7:26 of the second period and made it 2-0 for the Blue Jackets (12-24-2) less than two minutes later. Both of the goals came on the power play, and both were assisted by fellow rookie Kent Johnson.

But the Hurricanes, who entered the game at 25-8-6 and in first place in the Metropolitan Division, weren't going to go away quietly facing a 2-0 deficit.

Max Pacioretty halved the deficit shortly after Marchenko's second goal, and the Hurricanes tied the game by the 17:18 mark of the period. Exactly one minute later, Patrik Laine was whistled for tripping, and it took Carolina just 38 seconds to take the lead on the ensuing power play.

After a five-goal second period, the third period was much slower; the two teams combined for just 11 shots on goal. The Blue Jackets had just four of those shots, but one of them was Marchenko's game-tying goal to complete the hat trick.

"After two goals, I was just shooting with closed eyes," Marchenko said. "Keep shooting, and wow, score three. ... I don’t have words for this moment. It’s great."

At the end of regulation, the Blue Jackets survived a late penalty kill to force overtime, which was played almost entirely at four-on-four after they completed the final five seconds of the penalty kill — a stoppage is required to bring the teams back to three-on-three, and there were no whistles in the entire five minutes of overtime.

Marchenko was the first shooter in the shootout, and, perhaps unsurprisingly given his performance on the night, buried the puck past goaltender Antti Raanta.

"I don’t think I go first, but coach said, ‘You go first,’ " Marchenko said. "Usually I just look at what first guy does in shootout, and look at goalie, how goalie plays, and after I think what I do. But now, I go first, think, ‘Wow. OK. Just try.’ I did no great move, but I scored. It’s good."

It took another four rounds of the shootout after Marchenko's tally for Johnson to bury the winner with a slick set of moves that befuddled Raanta.

"Just try to come in wide, get him moving, fake the shot, take it on my backhand and get it up there," Johnson said, seemingly downplaying the skill it took to complete the move.

Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo faced one final shooter after Johnson's goal, and he stopped Martin Necas to secure the win for the Blue Jackets. Shootouts don't officially count in a goalie's statistics, but if they did, Korpisalo would add two more saves to the 39 he made prior to the shootout.

A day after the Blue Jackets took part in a high-intensity practice, with the goal of increasing their competitiveness, they played a competitive game against one of the best teams in the NHL. Their problems are far from solved, but in the midst of a long season, the Blue Jackets' effort and Marchenko's hat trick gave Larsen something to smile about.

"The battle level was there," Larsen said. "It wasn’t total team, there was a few guys still that we’ve got some things to work through, but there was a lot of great efforts tonight. It starts from our goalie. He was there all night for us. It was a good start."

Kirill Marchenko's teammates thrilled by his hat trick for Blue Jackets

Cole Sillinger knows what it feels like to score a hat trick in your rookie season, so it was fitting that he had the assist on Marchenko's third goal. When the camera focused in on Marchenko sitting on the bench, it was Sillinger who got his attention and wore a smile almost as large as Marchenko's as the crowd celebrated.

"It’s a pretty good feeling," Sillinger said. "I don’t know how many shots he had on net tonight, but seemed like he could’ve had more than three (goals). When that one went in, obviously a big goal in the moment. Tied it up 3-3. His third of the night. We were all just super happy. Guy that for sure deserves it. He works super hard."

Marchenko's dogged efforts to learn English are subject to a few jokes — when asked what Marchenko brings to the locker room, Sillinger quipped, "Not a lot of English" — but it's evident that his upbeat personality has already endeared him to his teammates.

"He’s obviously a great player and a great person, so I think everyone’s really happy for him," Johnson said. "It’s obviously huge for us. It’s unreal."

Through his first 15 games in the NHL, Marchenko has eight goals and is already tied for third-most goals on the team with Johnson and Gustav Nyquist. And Marchenko isn't content just being a goal-scorer, much to the delight of his coach.

"He loves to play," Larsen said. "You love talking to him. As much English as I can understand that comes out of him, I enjoy it. He’s so coachable. He wants to learn. 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 so he can be a two-way guy.

"He’s always smiling. He’s always working. He’s a really neat personality to have around."

Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Carolina Hurricanes: notes

— Defenseman Adam Boqvist was a healthy scratch for Saturday's game. He returned to the lineup from a broken foot on Dec. 23 in Chicago and played five games before coming out of the lineup again, this time as a coach's decision.

"He’s still a young defenseman," Larsen said. "There’s the areas that we want him to grow in, and he knows it and we’ve shown video and we’ve talked about it and he’s working at it. ... You never want to handcuff these guys, especially the guys with skill. But there has to be a line at some point. Puck management, defending, that one-on-one competitiveness, that has to be there. It’s required in the NHL."

— Marchenko's hat trick was the sixth by a rookie in Blue Jackets history, and he is the fourth rookie in franchise history to score two power-play goals in the same game.

Columbus Blue Jackets lineup vs. Carolina Hurricanes

Forwards

Johnny Gaudreau – Kent Johnson – Emil Bemstrom

Gustav Nyquist – Jack Roslovic – Patrik Laine

Liam Foudy – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier

Kirill Marchenko – Cole Sillinger – Carson Meyer

Defensemen 

Vladislav Gavrikov – Andrew Peeke

Tim Berni – Erik Gudbranson

Gavin Bayreuther - Marcus Bjork

Goalies 

Elvis Merzlikins

Joonas Korpisalo

Scratched: D Adam Boqvist

Injury/illness: C Boone Jenner (fractured thumb), G Elvis Merzlikins (illness), LW Eric Robinson (upper body), F Yegor Chinakhov (ankle), G Daniil Taraov (upper body), D Zach Werenski (shoulder), F Justin Danforth (shoulder), D Jake Bean (shoulder), D Nick Blankenburg (broken ankle/high-ankle sprain), F Jakub Voracek (concussion).

Up next for the Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets begin a two-game road trip on Sunday afternoon at Washington before traveling to Tampa to play the Lightning on Tuesday. Their next game in Columbus is also against the Hurricanes, who come back to town on Thursday.

bjohnson@dispatch.com

@BaileyAJohnson_

Get more Columbus Blue Jackets news by listening to our podcasts

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Kirill Marchenko hat trick for Blue Jackets against Hurricanes