In Columbus, Sam Reinhart posted four assists for the visiting Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon, in a 5-2 win over the Blue Jackets.
Anthony Stolarz made 17 saves in the win.
The Panthers improved to 17-8-2 off their third straight win.
The Panthers jumped to a quick 1-0 lead with 62 seconds of f4esh game ice used in the opening stanza on a marker from Gustav Forsling .
“We wanted to have a good start to this road trip and were ready to play the right way here,” Forsling said.
Columbus’ Yegor Chinakhov scored with seven minutes gone in the first to tie the game, 1-1.
Sam Reinhart collected four assists in the Panthers win.
“He’s so detailed with everything he does,” the Panthers’ Carter Verhaeghe said. “He makes awesome passes, and he can score. He’s a complete player. He’s one of the best players on our team. You see it night in and night out. He’s putting up the points right now but even when he’s not, he’s really effective.”
Verhaeghe replied 22 seconds later to restore the Panthers lead, 2-1.
“It was a bit of a grinder,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It was difficult, it seems, for both teams to finish some of the opportunities they had. Both goalies made some good saves.
“We were pretty darn consistent. I don’t think we had a lull. We had a handful of extended offensive zone shifts. They had a couple, but it was pretty consistent.”
Columbus dropped to 9-16-5.
“We’ve got to find a way to come together and win those hockey games,” Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger said.
After a scoreless middle frame, Alexander Barkov hit off the power play at 13:13 of the third to push the advantage to 3-1 for the Panthers.
“It’s 2-1, chances were pretty even after the first couple periods,” Sillinger said. “We find a way to get that [power play] or get a bounce and tie it 2-2 and put some pressure on them and it changes the dynamic of the hockey game.”
The power play goal came with 37 seconds left on a seven-minute long skater advantage to the Panthers. Erik Gudbranson had been assessed major and minor penalties for fighting.
Columbus crawled back to within one when Dmitri Voronkov added a marker at 16:11Â of third. The Blue Jackets scored with an extra skater.
“A minute at a time. That was our idea,” the Blue Jackets’ Sean Kuraly said. “We know our kill’s one of the best in the League. We know what we’re doing. We have our structure, and we believe in it.
“You don’t look at it as seven minutes, you see a minute at a time. We got 6 1/2 minutes. … We’re obviously not happy about the result, but that’s what happened.”
Matthew Tkachuk hit an empty net with 1:55 left on the game clock for a 4-2 lead.
The Panthers’ Eetu Luostarinen posted a second empty-net strike with 61 seconds left in the game for the 5-2 final
Jet Greaves made 31 saves in the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.