RECAP: Florida Panthers 3, Columbus Blue Jackets 0
Sergei Bobrovsky moved into 10th on the all-time wins list with his second shutout in his past three games.
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers continued to roll behind their new-look top power play unit, defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 on Thursday night.
Sam Reinhart and Mackie Samoskevich each scored power play goals to help the Panthers to their 10th win in their past 12 games.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 16 shots he faced for his second shutout in his past three games. The 36-year-old netminder tied Tony Esposito for 10th on the all-time wins list with his 423rd-career victory.
Florida’s brand new top power play unit, which added Samoskevich on Monday against Tampa, had a lot of time to get going. Columbus took two penalties in the first five minutes of the game and Reinhart made them pay 5:58 into the first period.
Reinhart tapped a feed from Aleksander Barkov past Elvis Merzlinkins into the top shelf to put Florida ahead. Columbus challenged the play for a missed stoppage, which ended up coming up unsuccessful, sending Florida to a third power play in the first six minutes of the game.
The Panthers could not come up with a goal on that man advantage, but the chemistry from the top unit was apparent. Florida generated eight shots, seven scoring chances and three high-danger chances on those three first-period man advantages.
Carter Verhaeghe had Florida’s best 5-on-5 scoring chance of the opening frame with 16 seconds to go. He pulled a shot to his backhand with Merzlinkins seemingly down and out, but the Latvian netminder pulled off a windmill move to get back in position and came up with the glove save to keep the Columbus deficit at one going into the intermission.
Samoskevich struck with a laser of a wrist shot off of a Barkov rebound 6:34 into the second period. The goal marked the 21-year-old’s second power play point in the two games since he was bumped up to the top unit.
Florida finished the game 2-for-5 on the power play after coming up empty on their final man advantage of the night late in the third period.
The Panthers went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill to extend their hot streak to 17-for-18 since returning from the 4 Nations break on Feb. 22.
Florida will conclude a five-game home-stand on Saturday night with a clash with the Buffalo Sabres.