Sam Reinhart scored his fourth goal of the season and added two assists to spark the tired Florida Panthers to a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in an emotional one from Nationwide Arena.
Playing their fourth game on the road in six days, the Cats found a way to come up with three goals in the second period, despite getting out-shot 16-8, and held off the Blue Jackets in the third to finish the trip with a 2-2 record.
After a scoreless first period, Kent Johnson collected an errant Evan Rodrigues pass and sprung Cole Sillinger, who converted the shorthanded breakaway 41 seconds into the middle frame by roofing a wrist shot over Spencer Knight.
The Panthers struck back at the 10:25 mark, applying a heavy forecheck to knot the score. Nate Schmidt stepped in from the point and dribbled the puck ahead to Reinhart in the left circle. Reinhart took the puck out of the air and rapped it over to Anton Lundell and Baby Barkov one-timed it between the legs of Elvis Merzlikins.
Columbus quickly countered to regain the lead 57 seconds later. A rushing Yegor Chinakov took a pass from Kirill Marchenko and tried to get a shot off. Aaron Ekblad knocked the puck off his stick, but it went right to Sean Monahan, who potted his own rebound after Knight made a stick save on the initial shot.
A steal by the hard-working Eetu Luostarinen set the stage for Florida’s second goal. After Luostarinen freed the puck in the corner, Lundell went back to the left point to Niko Mikkola and his subsequent shot struck Sillinger and ended up on the blade of Dmitry Kulikov. Kulikov’s long-range wrister through traffic found the back of the net behind a scrambling Merzlikins at 11:59.
Florida forged ahead when Reinhart beat the buzzer, and Merzlikins, with two seconds left in the period. Reinhart collected the puck on the boards then fed down low and headed to the net. Carter Verhaeghe couldn’t handle the pass, but Sam Bennett stuck a fork in it and then threw the puck back in front as he rounded the net. Verhaeghe again got a piece of it before Reinhart finished it off.
With Knight keeping the flagging Cats ahead in the third, Luostarinen finally gave them some breathing room when he scored at 15:12. After Mikkola cranked the puck around the boards in his own end, it came to Reinhart in the neutral zone and he sent Luostarinen in with speed and the lanky Finn went high on Merzlikins while fending off Zach Werenski. Nice goal!
The pesky Blue Jackets would pull one back with 2:39 left in regulation when veteran James van Riemsdyk deflected Damon Severson’s shot from the left circle past Knight with Merzlikins off for an extra attacker. The second assist went to Kevin Lebanc, whose shot rebounded to Severson.
Knight would flat-out rob Chinakov with his glove from in-close (wow!) and then deny Adam Fantilli’s shot before the final horn sounded to seal the deal.
The Panthers got out-shot 38 to 22 and gave the puck away 23 times, but they found a way to get two points for the second straight day. They’ll return to home to open a three-game homestand against Western Conference opponents, starting with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Cuffs & Buttons
- After the pre-game ceremony honoring Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, the teams started play with Johnny Hockey’s left wing spot vacated and let thirteen seconds run off the clock. I don’t know about you, but this brought tears to my eyes.
- Spencer Knight made 35 saves to post his first NHL win since January 3, 2023, when he beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 at Amerant Bank Arena. Way to go, Spencer!
- After being named the First Star in Boston on Monday, Sam Reinhart did it again in Columbus. A goal and two primary assists gave Reinhart eight points in five games.
- Zach Werenski couldn’t prevent Eetu Luostarinen from bagging the game-winner, but he did finish with a game-high seven shots on goal.
- Another quiet night for rookie Mackie Samsokevich, who played 13:58 and had just one shot on goal, Samsokevich is still looking for his first NHL point.