George Richards, FHN Publisher
Before Monday night’s game between the Panthers and his Columbus Blue Jackets, defenseman Seth Jones said no matter how bad things were going, they were not going to stop giving their complete effort.
If they did not already know, Jones and his teammates are finding out sometimes effort has nothing to do with the end result.
Columbus played better than the Panthers Monday, at least early on, yet talent won out on this night.
The Panthers have a lot more than the depleted Blue Jackets and it showed in Florida’s 4-2 win at BB&T Center.
Florida did not do anything fancy but simply had too much for a team struggling as Columbus is right now.
It was plenty enough.
And, with Tampa Bay beating Carolina in OT, Florida and the Hurricanes are tied atop the Central Division with 62 points each.
”Every game from here on out has a playoff mentality and we all know that,” said Anthony Duclair, who had two assists on Monday.
“For us, it doesn’t matter who we play we just want to keep going.”
Florida, which is 3-0-1 in its past four, remained right in the thick of the race for the Central Division title as it now has 10 games remaining.
The Panthers play host to the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night for the eighth and final time in this season series. Florida has won six of the first seven.
Again, it wasn’t for a lack of trying by Columbus — a team which has now lost six consecutive games and 13 of its past 15.
In fact, sometimes bad luck plays a role. It did in the first period.
In an odd turn of events, Frank Vatrano gave the Panthers the early lead. Not odd because he scored — Vatrano does have 17 goals which is tied for second on the team — but that he did so early.
Of those 17 goals, 13 have come in the third period or later.
Vatrano took advantage of a fortuitous bounce.
Alex Wennberg tried working the puck out from the end boards behind the cage and appeared to get a piece of it.
The puck snapped off the skate of Jones, however, and some how landed right on Vatrano’s stick.
Bad place for it to be for Jones and the Jackets.
Vatrano one-timed it past Elvis Merzlikins and, despite the aggresive play of Columbus to that point, Florida was up 1-0.
Merzlikins ended with 35 saves as Sergei Bobrovsky beat his former teammates again by making 34 saves himself.
Florida added to its lead to open the second as Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Bennett broke out on a 2-on-1. Bennett got his first goal with the Panthers in front of the home crowd as he popped in the Huberdeau dish 59 seconds in.
If Bennett was not already on his way to becoming a crowd favorite, jumping in to fight Columbus defenseman Gavin Bayreuther after he decked Duclair along the boards certainly earned him some points in that regard.
”He has come in and given us a couple of nice games for us,” Joel Quenneville said. “He has given us a presence physically and that’s something he has to do. That line seems like there is some fun growing there.”
Bennett, playing in just his second game with the Panthers after being acquired at the deadline from Calgary, was slapped with a misconduct, instigating and fighting (17 minutes total) for his role in the fracas.
Bayreuther got hit with not only five for fighting but two for roughing — apparently for the hit on Duclair — which seemed to irritate coach John Tortorella a touch more than usual.
Not long after Columbus made it 2-1 on an Oliver Bjorkstand 40-footer, Florida got the two-goal lead back on a wicked slap shot from Radko Gudas.
Gudas took a pass from Duclair (two assists) and seemed to take offense at the puck the way he treated it.
”That was a great feed, right in my wheelhouse,” Gudas said. “It was good for me to get one of those in.”
Tortorella, probably still a little hot, challenged the call for goalie interference although it appeared it was Elvis Merzlikins who was doing the interfering.
The goal counted and the Panthers went on the power play where, well, not much happened. As has been the case quite a bit lately.
In the third, Bobrovsky hit the ice after being steamrolled by teammate Lucas Wallmark and (former teammate) Jones. After a few seconds, Bobrovsky was back in the cage and play moved on.
Zac Dalpe made it a one-goal game by chopping at puck down low at 8:01.
Vatrano ended the night by scoring into an empty net with 1:22 remaining.
Bobrovsky, by the way, is now 6-1-1 against the Blue Jackets since leaving for Florida in 2019. This season, he is 5-0 against Columbus.
“It’s always fun to win and definitely against the former team it’s maybe a little special,” Bobrovsky said. “Not maybe, it’s definitely more fun to play with an edge. It’s nice to have a 5-0 record against Columbus.
“But every game is so important and we’re fighting for points. You focus, don’t think too much on the outside just one shot at a time.”
Bobrovsky won’t get a chance at win No. 6 on Tuesday.
KNIGHT TIME
With the Panthers winning Monday with rookie Spencer Knight on the bench backing up Bobrovsky for the first time, there was speculation Knight may make his official NHL debut Tuesday.
Quenneville all but confirmed he will start his first NHL game against the Blue Jackets.
Monday night was Knight’s first time on the Florida bench as the official backup.
Chris Driedger took the night off completely but will likely be the backup on Tuesday.
The Panthers signed Knight after he left Boston College after two seasons. The thought is Florida is going to give him a game eventually and, with only 10 games remaining, Tuesday probably is the best night for it.
Of Florida’s final nine games after Tuesday, four are against Tampa Bay and Carolina. The Panthers also have games remaining against Chicago, Nashville and Dallas.
WEEGAR OUT
The Panthers were without a second half of their top defensive pairing Monday as MacKenzie Weegar was out with what Quenneville said simply was an upper body injury.
It’s not believed to be anything serious with Quenneville giving the usual day-to-day prognosis.
With Weegar out, Florida moved veteran Anton Stralman up to play with Gus Forsling.
Florida lost top defenseman Aaron Ekblad to a fractured leg last month; Ekblad had surgery and will miss the remainder of the regular season and, at least, the start of the playoffs.
GEORGE’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT
1. Sam Bennett, Florida
2. Frank Vatrano, Florida
3. Anthony Duclair, Florida
ON DECK: BLUE JACKETS AT PANTHERS
When: Tuesday, 7
Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise
Tickets: AVAILABLE HERE
Season series: Florida leads 6-0-1
TV: BS-SUN
Radio: WQAM 560-AM