George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets play their final game tonight before the NHL Trade Deadline hits tomorrow afternoon — and the two teams are certainly looking at things a lot differently.
The Blue Jackets have turned their season around under new coach (and South Florida resident) Rick Bowness going 12-2-1.
Columbus, which should be buyers at this deadline, come into tonight three points back of Boston for the second wild card and five back of the Islanders for third in the Metropolitan.
The Panthers will be selling after losing three straight and eight of 10.
Coach Paul Maurice did not even want to talk about potential lineup changes tonight because things can change pretty quickly.
“It’s that time of year,’’ Maurice said. “Who knows?’’
The first shoe dropped a few hours before gametime with the Panthers trading Jeff Petry to the Minnesota Wild.
The Panthers have had plenty of success against the Blue Jackets over the years and come into tonight with nine straight wins against Columbus since Dec. 13, 2022.
But this Blue Jackets team has points in three straight (2-0-1) and have a point in 10 of 11 at Nationwide Arena (8-1-2).
The last time these two played on Dec. 6, the Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit in the second period and won 7-6 in overtime.
Sam Bennett had a goal and four points including the game-winner with nine Florida players getting on the scoresheet.
Sam Reinhart is riding a nine-game point streak against the Blue Jackets with five goals and 21 points.
NOTES: PANTHERS at BLUE JACKETS
- Starting Goalies: Daniil Tarasov is back in Columbus and starts tonight for the Panthers; Jet Greaves goes for the Blue Jackets.
- How to Watch/Stream: The Panthers will be on local television tonight and can be streamed on Panthers+ locally and ESPN+ nationally.
- NHL Betting Odds: The Blue Jackets are slight favorites (-115) on the money line at the local book. To win with Florida, a $105 bet wins $100.
ON DECK: GAME No. 62
FLORIDA PANTHERS at COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
- When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SW Fla)
- Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Local Betting Odds — Blue Jackets Favored: MoneyLine (-115); Puck Line -1.5 (+200); O/U 5.5 (-120/+100)
- This Season (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Florida: Panthers 7, Blue Jackets 6 OT (Dec. 2); March 12. At Columbus: Thursday.
- Last Season: Panthers Won 3-0
- All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 28-16-10
- Up Next for the Panthers: Friday at Detroit Red Wings, 7 p.m.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (30-28-3) LINES
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart
11 Mackie Samoskevich // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 17 Evan Rodrigues // 63 Brad Marchand
15 Sandis Vilmanis // 92 Tomas Nosek // 10 A.J. Greer
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 26 Uvis Balinskis
6 Donovan Sebrango // 7 Dmitry Kulikov
40 Daniil Tarasov
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Jesper Boqvist
Traded to Minnesota: Jeff Petry
Cleared Waivers: Toby Bjornfot
Injured: Seth Jones (collarbone), Sasha Barkov (knee), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Cole Schwindt (lower body), Uvis Balinskis (lower body)
PROJECTED COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (31-21-8) LINES
17 Mason Marchment // 19 Adam Fantilli // 86 Kirill Marchenko
91 Kent Johnson // 23 Sean Monahan // 38 Boone Jenner
4 Cole Sillinger // 3 Charlie Coyle // 24 Mathieu Olivier
10 Dmitri Voronkov // 21 Isac Lundestrom // 11 Miles Wood
5 Denton Mateychuk // 78 Damon Severson
6 Egor Zamula // 9 Ivan Provorov
2 Jake Christiansen // 44 Erik Gudbranson
73 Jet Greaves
90 Elvis Merzlikins
Scratched: Danton Heinen
Injured: Brendan Smith (knee surgery), Dante Fabbro (illness), Zach Werenski (illness)