RALEIGH, N. Gary Harris Jersey .C. -- For more than 60 minutes, the Columbus Blue Jackets just couldnt manage to give their power-play unit a chance. Once they finally went up a man in overtime, Ryan Johansen made it count. Johansen scored a power-play goal at 2:40 of the extra session to lead Columbus past the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Saturday night. "I was talking to the ref, I was like, Come on, we need a power play," Johansen said with a laugh. "We have confidence in our power play, so if we get opportunities, we feel were at least going to get a lot of momentum out of it and get some chances." Artem Anisimov had a goal and an assist and Matt Calvert also scored to help the Blue Jackets earn an important two points in their push for the second playoff berth in club history and first since 2009. "We can pat ourselves on the back for this one, but starting (Sunday) and the day after, weve got to move on," defenceman Dalton Prout said. "Theres still lots of work to be done, and for the most part, we control our own fate. Its a good feeling." Jeff Skinner and Andrei Loktionov scored and Riley Nash had two assists for the Hurricanes, who fell to 6-11 since the Olympic break. "We seem to be finding ways ... to lose," Carolina captain Eric Staal said. "Its not like were completely out of it every night. Were in the battle. "For whatever reason, we cant seem to get that one that falls for us and it goes the other direction," Staal added. "Our compete, our work ethic, for the most part has been there. Weve got guys that care. Weve got guys that try. Thats not our problem." Curtis McElhinney made 25 saves for Columbus in his second straight start in place of flu-stricken starter Sergei Bobrovsky. The decisive sequence started midway through OT when Brandon Dubinsky rang the left post. Goalie Anton Khudobin couldnt cover the puck, but forward Jiri Tlusty did -- drawing a delay of game penalty and giving the Blue Jackets their first power play of the night at 1:54. Johansen then ended it with a snap shot from between the circles that trickled past Khudobin, who stopped 29 shots in his second consecutive start for Carolina. Loktionov put the Hurricanes up 2-1 when he took a feed from Nash in the circle and snapped the puck past McElhinney with 13:22 left. But for the second time in the game, the Blue Jackets struck back quickly to tie it. This time it was Anisimov, who pushed the rebound of Nathan Hortons shot past Khudobin 50 seconds later. "We found a way to claw back," Johansen said. These teams entered on opposite ends of the playoff spectrum, with the Blue Jackets taking the ice in a four-way tie for two Eastern Conference wild cards. Carolina is mathematically alive for just its second post-season berth since winning the 2006 Stanley Cup, but the Hurricanes -- who entered seven points behind that cluster of four teams -- have a long way to go to catch up. "We dont think were out yet," coach Kirk Muller said. "Were going to push." For much of this game, offensive chances were few for both teams. Khudobin made the save of the night midway through the first period when he slid across the net to thwart Blake Comeau on a 2-on-1. "They knew we were on a back-to-back with travel," Prout said. "They came out hard and I think they carried the play. But we weathered the storm and I think we fought back." The scoring pace picked up near the end of the second: Skinner finally broke through for Carolina when he scored with 3:31 left in the second. He snatched the rebound of rookie Elias Lindholms shot and chipped the puck over defenceman David Savard for his team-leading third goal this season against Columbus. Calvert tied it with 1:14 left in the period when he snapped the puck past Khudobin after a takeaway -- the first goal allowed by the Hurricanes goalie in a span of 121 minutes, 49 seconds. NOTES: Calvert has goals in two straight games. ... Skinner has a four-game points streak and has four points in five games against the Blue Jackets this season. Custom Denver Nuggets Jerseys .C. -- Al Jefferson knows few people will be giving the Charlotte Bobcats a chance to upset the Miami Heat in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Michael Porter Jersey .J. Mayo made seven three-pointers and scored 25 points, Ersan Ilyasova added 20, and the Milwaukee Bucks placed seven players in double figures in a 130-110 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost their 11th straight game on Monday night. http://www.nuggetsproshop.com/Nikola-Jokic-Nuggets-Jersey/ . Wayne and Cindy Tuck of Ilderton, Ont., closed out round-robin play earlier in the day with a 7-3 win over Finland but needed a win over Austria to reach the final eight.CLEVELAND - As the old saying goes, if you play with fire, youre going to get burned. Dwane Casey, who has used the phrase as a cautionary tale after lethargic starts of the recent past, came just short of saying I told you so Tuesday evening. His team had been getting away with it, far more often than any team should. Yes, theyre a resilient bunch and that was the case again in Cleveland as they clawed back from a 21-point deficit - even taking a brief fourth-quarter lead - but its been masking the underlying issue. Theyre an open-faced sandwich, missing the top bun. "You cant play in this league that way and expect to come back each and every night," Casey said after Torontos 102-100 loss to the Cavaliers. "Its bit us more than weve won, it feels like." "Until we fix that, among us, among ourselves, then its going to be an uphill battle every night." For the second time in three days, the Raptors trailed by nine after the first quarter, allowing another team with a losing record, also missing their best player, to shoot above 52 per cent to open the game. The start was eerily similar to Sundays, at home to Atlanta, lacking effort, focus and purpose on both ends of the floor. Even without injured point guard Kyrie Irving, Cleveland killed the visiting Raptors with speed and precision, exposing a reoccurring hole in their interior defence by darting into the paint at will. The comeback was inevitable. Its what they do. Down by 21 early in the third, Toronto staged a 21-9 run to close out the quarter. Kyle Lowry - running back and forth from the locker room all night, battling an upset stomach - scored half of his team-high 22 points in the frame. Greivis Vasquez would give the Raptors their first lead since the opening minutes, draining a three-pointer midway through the fourth before reality set in. "I think everybodys energy was low from having to come back," Lowry said. From that moment on they hit just one of their final 10 shots and on the last possession, down only two, they failed to even get one off. It was a play they had just run with success. Amir Johnson was looking for Lowry to turn the corner, but he was cut off. Instead, Vasquez took the handoff and, trying to spin right, towards the bucket, he lost his footing. "It was me going to my weak hand and I lost my balance, stepped kind of weird," said Vasquez, who scored 16 points of Torontos bench. "I turned the ball over. Ill take responsibility. Im not going to run away. Im a man." A noble gesture but, as Casey pointed out, its not the reason for the loss. "Thats not the game-decider," the Raptors coach said. "The game was decided the way we approached the first quarter." "Its easy to get up for OKC, its easy to get up for Miami, its easy to get up for Indiana but the teams that are not in the playoff picture, they are playing for something, too," he continued. Carmelo Anthony Jersey. "Theyre playing for pride, which is probably a little bit more dangerous than guys trying to save minutes and save themselves for the playoffs." Theres a lesson to be learned from this loss and it shouldnt take long to figure out whether or not its been absorbed. The Raptors - now the Easts fourth seed, leapfrogged by the Bulls with Tuesdays defeat - will travel to Boston in the second night of a back-to-back and first game of a home-and-home set with the Celtics, another scrappy team looking to play spoiler. "Weve got to get the mindset of being the hunter instead of the hunted because," Casey added. "Thats how we got where we are, being a desperate team, a hungry team and not believing the press clippings or where we are in the standings." Birthday blues Although Lowry would have preferred to celebrate his 28th birthday with a win, the Raptors point guard recorded his 18th double-double with 10 assists to go along with his 22 points. Lowry extended his career-high streak of 19 or more points to 10 games and also became the first Raptor to score 20-plus in eight straight since Chris Bosh did so in 2010. Amir passes VC on blocks list With his third-quarter swat on Spencer Hawes, Johnson recorded his 416th block as a member of the Raptors, passing Vince Carter for second on the teams all-time block shots list. Johnson, who had 12 points and nine rebounds on Tuesday, still has a ways to go to catch Bosh, topping the franchise list with 600 blocks. Patterson nearing a return Patrick Patterson, who has missed 10 straight games with an ulnar collateral sprain in his right elbow, was reassessed on Monday and is headlong well, the team revealed before Tuesdays game in Cleveland. Although hes been cleared for contact, theres still no timetable for his return to game action. "Its a lot up to the medical staff and when they feel he can go," Casey said. "Its one of those things where if he gets hit in the wrong way it could be trouble for a lot longer so thats why they want to make sure its well enough." The stat The Raptors fell just short of matching their largest comeback of the season. They last overcame a 21-point deficit in their home win over Dallas on Jan. 22. Toronto hasnt had multiple wins in which theyve trailed by 20 or more points in the same season since 2004-05. The quote "Weve just got to understand what were playing for," Vasquez said. "Weve got a big one tomorrow [in Boston]. Its a must-win because were actually playing for something. If you dont get up for that youve got to get your gas up. Weve just got to be motivated, man. This is crunch time. This is important for us. Tomorrows a must-win, no matter what. No excuses." ' ' '