Columbus had been on a bit of a skid over the last couple weeks. Could they snap out of it in an all-important home divisional game?
For most of the first period, the Columbus attack appeared stymied just like they were for much of the previous game in Raleigh. The league’s best PK unit shut down the league’s best PP unit again thanks to aggressive play at the blue line, preventing clean entries. Later in the period, Columbus tried more dumping into the zone, which seemed to have slightly more success.
The scoreless tie was broken with just under 2 minutes remaining in the first.