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Florida Panthers Go With Knight, Blue Jackets Honor Gaudreau

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are postponing their usual Opening Night festivities to honor Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau before tonight’s game against the Panthers. // Photo @GeorgeRichards

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Florida Panthers know they will be facing an emotional Blue Jackets team tonight as Columbus honors the lives of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau before the puck drops on their 2024-25 home opener.



Fans coming into the gates will not only receive the traditional schedule magnet, but also the same ‘13’ patch their Blue Jackets will be wearing throughout the season.

The Blue Jackets are postponing the usual Opening Night ceremonies in order to properly honor their fallen teammate and his younger brother.

Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, died Aug. 29 when they were struck by an alleged drunk driver who has been charged with two counts of death by auto, while riding bicycles near their home in Salem County, New Jersey.

The Blue Jackets will hold Opening Night ceremonies Thursday when Buffalo comes to town.

As for the hockey, the Blue Jackets (1-1-0) want to open their home schedule with a win against the champion Panthers (2-2-0).

The team held their morning skate Tuesday, held various team meetings and feel ready to take on Florida.

The Panthers have won their past five games against the Blue Jackets including all three last season.

“All of those emotions, we have to channel into playing well tonight,’’ defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “Hockey is a game where, emotion is the basis for it, the benchmark for it, and there will be lots of that tonight. We just have to channel all that emotion into getting a win tonight. We’re going on a day-to-day basis and taking care of what’s in front of us.’’

Said Zach Werenski: “We’re kind of grieving together. Tonight is another step in that process. It’s going to be difficult, but we’re going to embrace it and we’re going to get ready for tonight.”

The Panthers did not hold a morning skate in Columbus after beating the Bruins 4-3 in Boston the day before.

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Spencer Knight was out on the ice following Columbus’ morning skate and will get his second start in a span of four days tonight.

Knight made his first NHL start with the Panthers since Feb. 18, 2023, on Saturday in Buffalo; he gave up four goals on 26 shots in a 5-2 loss to the Sabres.

“Obviously, that’s not the way you want the game to go,’’ Knight said afterward. “That loss starts with me, and ends with me. I think, really, the whole thing is on me. I can’t be making plays like that. There were some good things done, but you have to take ownership of the good things and the bad. The loss starts with me.’’

Elvis Merzlikins will be in net for the Blue Jackets, who lost their opener at Minnesota in Dean Evason’s return to St. Paul — but upset the Colorado Avalanche 6-4 on Saturday night in Denver.

“To be honest, it’s emotional,” Sean Monahan said after that win. “It’s nice to get our first win. You feel the love from this organization, I feel the love from my teammates and obviously I can feel the love from John.”

With Matthew Tkachuk and Sasha Barkov still out, the Panthers will continue to play 11 forwards and seven defensemen — with Uvis Balinskis getting time up on the fourth line.

ON DECK: GAME NO. 5
FLORIDA PANTHERS AT COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (2-2-0) LINES

13 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe// 9 Sam Bennett // 17 Evan Rodrigues

10 A.J. Greer // 70 Jesper Boqvist // 25 Mackie Samoskevich

12 Jonah Gadjovich // 36 Patrick Giles // 26 Uvis Balinskis

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

34 Adam Boqvist // 88 Nate Schmidt

30 Spencer Knight

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: None

Injured: Sasha Barkov (LBI), Matthew Tkachuk (ill), Tomas Nosek (LTIR-UBI), Justin Sourdif (UBI)

PROJECTED COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (2-2-0) LINES

59 Yegor Chinakhov // 23 Sean Monahan // 86 Kirill Marchenko

21 James van Riemsdyk // 19 Adam Fantilli // 62 Kevin Labanc

82 Mikael Pyyhtia // 4 Cole Sillinger //  91 Kent Johnson

27 Zach Aston-Reese // 7 Sean Kuraly // 24 Mathieu Olivier

8 Zach Werenski // 9 Ivan Provorov

2 Jake Christiansen // 78 Damon Severson

22 Jordan Harris // 44 Erik Gudbranson

90 Elvis Merzlikins

40 Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: David Jiricek, Jack Johnson, Dylan Gambrell

Injured: Justin Danforth (wrist), Dmitri Voronkov (upper body), Boone Jenner (shoulder), Gavin Brindley (finger)

Blue Jackets Lines Courtesy NHL.com

 

 

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