The Florida Panthers insisted their outing Sunday — an offensive debacle against the Carolina Hurricanes — was nothing more than an aberration, perhaps the result of too many games in too few days or a clearly tricky matchup against a newfound division rival. It was, Jonathan Huberdeau said, the sort of game to forget about quickly and move on from a few days later.
For two periods, he was right and it was enough for the Panthers to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2, in Columbus, Ohio.
Florida bounced back from its 23-shot loss to the Hurricanes with something of a return to form Tuesday at Nationwide Arena. The Panthers scored twice on the power play and piled up 29 shots in the first two periods before hanging on to beat the the Blue Jackets in the opener of a two-game series in Ohio.
The win, for the moment, vaulted Florida (16-5-4) into a tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Central Division. The Panthers’ 16 wins are tied for third most in the NHL and their five regulation losses are tied for second fewest.
A day off Monday rejuvenated Florida early. The Panthers piled up four shots in the opening five minutes, nearly scored on a power play, then went up 1-0 in just 4:59 when forward Juho Lammikko scored off an assist by MacKenzie Weegar.
They stretched the lead to 2-0 early in the second period on a power play when right wing Patric Hornqvist deflected in a slap shot by defenseman Aaron Ekblad. By the midpoint of the second period, Florida already surpassed the 23-shot mark from two days earlier and were wearing down Columbus goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.
The Panthers, who still lead the league with more than 34 shots on goal per game, added another power-play goal late in the second when right wing Owen Tippett beat Korpisalo with a wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle with 1:48 left in the period.
Korpisalo made a handful of the best saves of the season in the second period — including a stick save, reaching back behind to deny an open-net opportunity for defenseman Gustav Forsling — and still Florida grew its lead against the Blue Jackets (10-12-5) through their persistence with 29 shots on goal through two periods.
In the third, it took nearly nine minutes for Florida to put a shot on goal, as goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and the Panthers weathered an early flurry from Columbus. Florida dodged one near disaster when Blue Jackets winger Nick Foligno fanned against an open net after a perfect cross past Bobrovsky.
With 8:22, Columbus cut the Panthers’ lead to 3-2 when winger Oliver Bjorkstrand capitalized on a Florida giveaway to beat Bobrovksy while the Panthers’ offense struggled to put anything together. Florida didn’t put a second shot on goal until 5:16 remained and the Blue Jackets spent nearly the entire third period on the Panthers’ end of the ice.
A Florida penalty with 3:01 left gave Columbus one final chance to tie the game, pulling the goalie with 2:30 left to create a 6-on-4 advantage.
Defenseman Radko Gudas blocked a shot by Blue Jackets star Patrick Laine. Forward Noel Acciari blocked one by Columbus star Nick Werenski. Bobrovsky didn’t face a single shot on the power play, then Bobrovsky stopped two good looks by Laine when the advantage ended before an empty-net goal sealed the victory.
