Seth Jones and Sam Bennett celebrate. (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)
The Panthers finally got some good news on the injury front. Eetu Luostarinen was back in the lineup after missing eight games due to a grilling accident. The Cats played an eerily similar game to their match against the Canucks a couple of weeks ago: high-scoring, back-and-forth, and Florida had to outscore their defensive problems. After struggling heavily the last few games, it was a much-needed win and a much-needed two points in the standings. Despite sitting second to last in the division, they’re still only 4 points out of an automatic playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.
Dead Even First:
The Cats had a rough start to the match with the Blue Jackets outshooting them 2-6. A shot from Provorov got tipped in by Severson on the power play to break the ice just under eight minutes into the period. However, Evan Rodrigues answered back two minutes later and displayed great patience to get his scoring opportunity. Samoskevich got the puck free from the boards toward Rodrigues, who was near the faceoff circle. Evan then skated along the front of the net to pull Merzlikins out of position and scored to tie the game 1-1. The Panthers ended up outshooting the Blue Jackets by the end of the period 9-8. Florida also had a good first period in the faceoff dot with a winning 60% of the faceoffs and out-hit Columbus 10-8.
Defense & Goaltending Optional:
The second period is where all hell broke loose with a combined seven goals scored. Columbus scored two quick goals on another tip-in by Voronkov, who tipped Provorov’s shot, and a backhanded shot from Wood to take the 1-3 lead just under six minutes into the middle period. Marchenko extended it to a 1-4 lead on another backhand shot. Things were looking grim for Florida, but Carter Verhaeghe got them back in it with two goals. He tipped in a shot from Jones and then scored on the power play with a wrister shot from the faceoff circle off a fantastic cross-ice pass by Marchand. Carter seems to have found his groove again with 10 points (5G,5A) in his last five games, including a three-point night in this one. His assist came on the Marchand goal in the third period. The Panthers struck again on the power play to tie the game; this time, Jones scored with his shot from just above the faceoff circles. Marchand provided an excellent screen in front of Merzlinkins and Reinhart, and Bennett got the assists. Unfortunately, things didn’t stay tied as Sillinger scored for the Blue Jackets with a wrister shot on a chaotic defensive play by the Cats before the period ended, and Columbus took a 4-5 lead into the third period.
Battled Back:
Columbus took back a two-goal lead by opening the final period with a goal from Lundestrom, where he finished off a 2-on-1 opportunity. Marchand stayed hot for the Cats, though, driving to the net with Sam Bennett, Brad worked his way around the Blue Jacket defense and snuck the puck in to make it a 1-goal game. Marchand also had a team-high 10 SOG and added 3 assists for a 4-point night; he had assists on both Verhaeghe’s goals and Bennett’s game-winner. A stretch pass from the defensive zone up to Luostarinen got Eetu a scoring chance that was saved. But Merzlinkins was well out of his net to make the poke check on Luostarinen, and the puck was batted out of the air by Lundell. The result was that he had a wide-open net to tie the game at 6-6, and things went to OT. Columbus got a power play from a hooking penalty against Reinhart, which the Cats were able to kill off. As time was winding down, Marchand broke the puck into the Columbus zone. Bennett turned up the speed to get himself into position to receive a pass from Brad, which he promptly put into the back of the net with 3.2 seconds left of OT. After the match, HC Paul Maurice said to the media, “Emotionally, we needed that game.” Marchand said, “This team is built on not quitting and being able to battle through adversity.” It’s not the way they want to win games with their systems, but right now, we don’t ask how they win, only that they do win. A big two points to start off their back-to-back with two more points up for grabs against the Islanders.
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