Florida picked up consecutive wins in Boston and Columbus to finish their road trip 2-2-0

It was an emotional night in Columbus as the Blue Jackets welcomed fans for their home opener to celebrate the lives of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau.

Despite playing in Boston the day before, the Florida Panthers dug deep and earned a tough 4-3 victory to close out their road trip with back-to-back wins.

Both teams wore No. 13 Gaudreau jerseys during warmups, and Columbus began the game with only four players on the ice, leaving the left-wing spot empty in honor of Johnny Gaudreau.

The players then proceeded to stand and let the clock run for 13 seconds, honoring Gaudreau’s jersey No. 13.

There was no scoring during the opening frame despite the Blue Jackets taking three minor penalties during the final seven minutes.

They’d actually capitalize on the final penalty thank to Cole Sillinger scoring a shorthanded goal during the opening minute of the second period that came off a slick pass from Kent Johnson, who caught the Panthers being a little lax in the neutral zone.

Florida only registered two shots on goal during the first half of the second period, but their next one would find the back of the net.

Some great hand-eye coordination from Sam Reinhart helped him feed the puck to Anton Lundell, and a quick one-timer by the young Finn slid through the legs of Elvis Merzlikins at the 10:25 mark.

Sean Monahan gave Columbus the lead right back less than a minute later, but an arcing point shot by Dmitry Kulikov put the Cats back in front just 37 seconds afterwards.

Florida took their first lead of the game in the final seconds of the middle frame, when Reinhart found a loose puck in the blue paint and popped it past Merzlikins with 1.6 seconds to go.

Reinhart picked up another primary assist late in the third when he sprung Eetu Luostarinen on a breakaway. Eetu’s second of the season gave Florida a 4-2 lead, and that insurance goal would come in handy.

A shot by Damon Severson went off the leg of James van Riemsdyk and past Spencer Knight with 2:39 to go, pulling Columbus within one after they had pulled Merzlikins with around 4:20 to go.

Knight came up huge down the stretch, with several big saves during the final minute as the Blue Jackets pushed for the equalizer.

Alas, it was not to be.

Florida held on for their second win in as many days and heads back home above .500 at 3-2-0.

QUICK THOUGHTS

Knight finished with 35 saves, including seven of the high danger variety.

Lundell has now picked up three goals and an assist in his past two games.

Florida went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and are now a solid 13-for-15 on the season.

Conversely, the Cats went 0-for-3 on the power play and are a meager 2-for-16 while up a man through five games.

Reinhart, who logged a goal and two assists on Tuesday, is now up to four goals and eight points in Florida’s first five games. 

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