The Florida Panthers appear to be getting a breather as the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets come to Sunrise for a two-game series Monday and Tuesday nights.

We are constantly told there are no easy games in the NHL, but if there were, right now the Blue Jackets probably qualify.

Columbus comes to South Florida not only with losses in five consecutive games but eight of nine.

And 12 of the past 14.

While the Panthers are keeping their eyes on Carolina and Tampa Bay as they try to win the Central Division crown, the Blue Jackets are merely trying to stave off the Detroit Red Wings and not finish in last place.

That may not be easy. The two teams are tied in points with Columbus’ next four coming against the Panthers and Lightning.

No one is piling on the Jackets. This has been a rough, rough season in Ohio’s capital city.

The Blue Jackets have prided themselves on building a competitive team the right way, but this year, their run of four consecutive playoff appearances will end.

The team was a seller at the deadline, sending two of their most popular tenured players away in captain Nick Foligno and David Savard.

They have had injuries to high-profile players such as Zach Werenski and Boone Jenner.

They have also had less-than-expected output from Patrik Laine (goal, four points in February) after the team was all-but forced into trading franchise center Pierre-Luc Dubois early on.

In the past five losses, Columbus has lost by a combined score of 23-12.

Yet the Panthers cannot overlook them.

“We have nothing to lose,” Cam Atkinson said following Saturday’s 5-1 loss in Dallas.

“Guys want to make plays but it seems like guys are afraid to make plays. We have to keep it simple.”

The Panthers are expected to start Sergei Bobrovsky in Monday’s opener and we all know he’s not going to overlook his former team.

Bobrovsky has been good against the Jackets since leaving, going 5-1-1 including 4-0 this season. Bobrovsky has made 93 percent of his saves in his six starts against the Blue Jackets..

Chris Driedger likely gets the call for Game 2 on Tuesday and he has been strong against the Jackets as well.

Florida has won five of the first six with Columbus’ only win coming in a shootout at Nationwide Arena back on Jan. 28.

Columbus coach John Tortorella may be coming to the end of his six season run in Columbus and after the success the franchise has had under him over the past few years, few could it may have ended like this.

UPDATE: MacKenzie Weegar was not at Monday’s morning skate with Joel Quenneville saying he is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Anton Stralman was with Gus Forsling.

After being a minus-4 in Saturday’s loss (and getting 14-minutes of penalties in two of the past three) Max Domi will not be the Jackets’ lineup tonight. 

Columbus Blue Jackets at Florida Panthers

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES

FLORIDA FORWARDS

19 Mason Marchment — 16 Sasha Barkov — 97 Nikita Gusev

11 Jonathan Huberdeau — 9 Sam Bennett — 91 Anthony Duclair

77 Frank Vatrano — 21 Alex Wennberg — 70 Patric Hornqvist

83 Juho Lammikko — 71 Lucas Wallmark — 74 Owen Tippett

FLORIDA DEFENSEMEN

6 Anton Stralman — 42 Gus Forsling 

65 Markus Nutivaara — 62 Brandon Montour

3 Keith Yandle — 7 Radko Gudas

FLORIDA GOALIES

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

60 Chris Driedger

Scratches: F Ryan Lomberg, F Eetu Luostarinen, D Matt Kiersted, D Noah Juulsen, G Spencer Knight

Injured: F Carter Verhaeghe (upper body, week-to-week); F Noel Acciari (UBI, D2D); D MacKnezie Weegar (UBI, D2D); D Aaron Ekblad (leg, out for regular season)

Taxi squad: D Kevin Connauton, F Cole Schwindt, F Scott Wilson, G Philippe Desrosiers

Sent to AHL Syracuse: F Aleksi Heponiemi, D Brady Keeper, D Lucas Carlsson

Florida power play (32/146 21.9% — 11th in NHL)

Florida penalty kill (108/135 80% — 14th in NHL)

PP1: Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Patric Hornqvist, Nikita Gusev, Keith Yandle

PP2: Alex Wennberg, Anthony Duclair, Frank Vatrano, Mason Marchment, Gus Forsling

PROJECTED COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS LINES

COLUMBUS FORWARDS

28 Oliver Bjorkstrand — 96 Jack Roslovic — 13 Cam Atkinson

50 Eric Robinson — 42 Alexandre Texier — 29 Patrik Laine

88 Kole Sherwood — 11 Kevin Stenlund — 26 Zac Dalpe

23 Stefan Matteau — 21 Josh Dunne — 49 Ryan MacInnis

COLUMBUS DEFENSEMEN

43 Mikko Lehtonen — 3 Seth Jones

44 Vladislav Gavrikov — 15 Michael Del Zotto

7 Gavin Bayreuther — 2 Andrew Peeke

COLUMBUS GOALIES

90 Elvis Merzlikins

70 Joonas Korpisalo

Columbus power play (14/102 13.7% — 28th in NHL)

Columbus penalty kill (88/112 78.6% — 20th in NHL)

PP1: Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jack Roslovic, Cam Atkinson, Patrik Laine, Seth Jones

PP2: Eric Robinson, Alexandre Texier, Kole Sherwood, Kevin Stenlund, Mikko Lehtonen