Panthers 4, Blue Jackets 1: Bennett scores twice, Markstrom stops 37 in Columbus
Two goals in just over two minutes early in the second period and a 37-save night from Jacob Markstrom ended Florida's two-game losing streak.
The Columbus Blue Jackets attempted 73 shots, by coach Rick Bowness's count, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 37 of the ones that reached him. The Florida Panthers scored on their only power play, added another goal barely two minutes later, and let their goaltender handle the rest. Florida won 4-1 at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday night to end a two-game losing streak.
Two goals in 2:17
After a scoreless first period, Sam Bennett opened the scoring on the power play 2:00 into the second. NHL.com's recap credits Anton Lundell with the work: he got around three defenders down the right wing before finding Bennett low in the left circle. Florida has now scored at least one power-play goal in seven of its past eight games.
Lars Eller made it 2-0 at 4:17. Carter Verhaeghe took advantage of an Ivan Provorov giveaway in the Florida zone and slid a backhand pass to the trailing Eller, who one-timed it from below the right hash marks.
Provorov got that one back himself with about 20 seconds left in the period, cutting across the top of the zone and scoring on a backhand through traffic to make it 2-1.
Markstrom holds the door
That was as close as Columbus came. The Blue Jackets outshot Florida 15-7 in the third period and Markstrom, who finished with 37 saves, turned all of it away. Bennett restored the two-goal lead at 14:29 during 4-on-4 play with a wrist shot over Cam Talbot's glove from the left circle, set up by Matthew Tkachuk, and Sam Reinhart hit the empty net at 17:44. Talbot made 24 saves.
The empty-netter was Reinhart's 199th goal as a Panther, moving him past Jonathan Huberdeau into second place on the franchise list behind Aleksander Barkov's 286, according to NHL.com.
A family streak
Tkachuk's assist extended his point streak against Columbus to 16 games, a run that dates to December 2018. NHL.com noted the timing: his father, Keith Tkachuk, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday and once had a 15-game point streak against the Blue Jackets with St. Louis. They are the only father and son in NHL history with streaks of at least 15 games against the same franchise.
What it means
Florida is 10-7-2 and, per the Associated Press, has won 12 of its last 13 meetings with Columbus and is 6-0-0 when leading after two periods. Lundell had two assists, and defenseman Aaron Ekblad also had a multi-assist night.
Columbus fell to 7-9-0, and the second period keeps costing it. AP reported that the Blue Jackets have been outscored 23-8 in second periods through 16 games and are 0-9-0 when trailing after 40 minutes. Zach Werenski's six-game point streak also ended. The shot volume was there on Tuesday; the finish, and a way past Markstrom, was not.