Columbus extends Panthers' losing streak to four games, leaving Florida reeling before the Trade Deadline.
The Florida Panthers continued their search for points in the standings as their four-game road trip continued in Columbus.
Florida fell behind early and failed to recover, falling 4-2 to the Blue Jackets for their fourth straight defeat.
It’s a tough way to head into the Trade Deadline, which is at 3 p.m. Friday.
A holding penalty taken by Mackie Samoskevich had the Cats shorthanded in the game’s opening minutes.
Not long after their power play began, Columbus cashed in on a long shot by Ivan Provorov that got past a screened Daniil Tarasov at the 5:08 mark of the first period.
That’s how the score would remain until midway through the game when the home team doubled their advantage.
Similarly to Columbus’ first goal, this one also came off a long shot from the point.
This time, the puck was deflected on it way to the net by Mathieu Oliver for his 10t h goal of the season, making it 2-0 Blue Jackets with 9:10 remaining in the middle frame.
A defensive breakdown in the opening minutes of the third period led to Columbus’ third goal of the evening.
Kent Johnson fed a perfect pass to Bonne Jenner in the slot, and his quick shot flew past Tarasov just 1:41 into the period to make the score 3-0 Blue Jackets.
Florida finally got on the board with 11:10 to go, and it was a defenseman deflecting a shot by a defenseman.
Aaron Ekblad let a wrist shot go from just inside the blue line, and for whatever reason, Niko Mikkola happened to be standing in front of Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves.
Mikkola got his stick on a shot that was about waist high, sending the puck down toward the ice and past a surprised Greaves to cut the Jackets’ lead to 3-1.
Florida kept pushing, picking up a power play goal off the stick of Sam Bennett to draw within one of Columbus with 5:16 to go, and they thought they’d tied the game on a Gus Forsling goal with 2:55 to go.
That was until the Blue Jackets challenged for goalie interference and won, taking away the goal, and then picking up an empty-net tally about a minute later to seal the deal.
On to Detroit.
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Photo caption: Mar 5, 2026; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Mathieu Olivier (24) deflects the puck past Florida Panthers goalie Daniil Tarasov (40) for a goall during the second period at Nationwide Arena. (Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images)