The Columbus Blue Jackets erased an early 3-0 deficit, took a late lead, and ultimately fell in overtime by a score of 5-4 to the Florida Panthers.
Pascal Vincent made a couple of lineup changes, with Mathieu Olivier going in for Emil Bemstrom, and Andrew Peeke returning to play in front of his hometown fans, for his first action since the opening game of the season. David Jiricek sat in his place, for no good reason.
First Period
The Blue Jackets controlled the first few shifts, but after two minutes everything changed. First, there was a defensive lapse that we’ve seen already this season. Jake Bean pinched against the boards in the neutral zone, but the puck got by and Erik Gudbranson had to come over to cover. This left the back door open, and Ryan Lomberg was able to score off of a rebound.
Just 50 seconds later, the Panthers struck again. This time it was a long range bomb through traffic by Gustav Forsling. Elvis Merzlikins’ biggest weakness has been long range shots from the stick side of the ice, though I’m not sure he had any chance to stop this one.
The onslaught continued with wave after wave of Panthers coming on the attack, and they got a third goal by creating havoc in front of the net. Damon Severson blocked Elvis from having any chance of getting his skate to the puck, but with the goalie flopped on his belly he didn’t have much chance anyway.
Just like that, only 6:09 and 11 shots into the game, Elvis’s night was over. For the next ten minutes, Spencer Martin had to come in cold and stand on his head. Florida collected 21 unanswered points in the period. There was no sustained pushback from the Jackets.
That is, until the fourth line came through to put Columbus on the board. Erik Gudbranson collected a pass along the boards and fired the puck at the net. Sean Kuraly was in the right place to send home the rebound.
You know what they say: a two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey. Case in point: 3 minutes after the Kuraly goal, Jack Roslovic stole the puck in the defensive zone and set off down ice with Boone Jenner. Roslovic served as a decoy for the pass, but Jenner kept it and fired it past Sergei Bobrovsky. That was just the sixth shot he had faced all evening.
The Jackets ended up finishing the period with 6 unanswered shots on goal of their own. The Gudbranson/Bean pairing and Kuraly line lead the team in 5v5 CF%. Sure.
Second Period
The Jackets came out better in the second period (hard to be worse than how they started the first). It was much lower event in terms of shots on goal, and was a back and forth affair.
Near the halfway mark, Josh Mahura sent the puck over the glass, giving the Blue Jackets the first power play of the game. The first unit, featuring Jenner, Roslovic, Johnny Gaudreau, Adam Fantilli, and Zach Werenski, had a bad shift and generated little. The second unit, however, featured four Russians and honorary Russian Alexandre Texier, and they tied the game. Dmitri Voronkov — a very large man, in case you had forgotten — perfectly shielded Bobrovsky while Ivan Provorov shot at the net. The loose puck trickled under Bob’s legs, and Kirill Marchenko tapped it in.
Later in the period, Texier went to the box for cross-checking and Martin stepped up again in a big way on the kill to keep the game tied.
Third Period
Early in the third, Fantilli set the tone with a couple of big hits, including one that was a borderline high hit on Carter Verhaeghe. Former Blue Jacket Kevin Stenlund took umbrage, but Voronkov stepped in to fight him in Fantilli’s stead. It ended up being not much of a fight, with Voronkov throwing Stenlund down with some ease. More of a wrestling match. Both got 2 minutes for roughing, while Stenlund got an additional 2 for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Jackets PP couldn’t score again, but again the Russian crew (with Sillinger in Voronkov’s place) looked better than PP1.
With 7:30 remaining, Peeke chipped the puck out of the defensive zone, and Texier raced it down the ice. He passed across the crease to Sillinger, then stayed with the play to tap in a back door rebound and give the Jackets the lead.
With 3:16 remaining, the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky, and spent the next few minutes dominating possession as the Jackets tried desperately to hang on. With just under a minute left, Provorov attempted to chip the puck through the air to clear it, but Nick Cousins was able to catch it in the air and quickly score. An absolutely dreadful turnover by Provorov.
Overtime
A bizarre choice by Vincent to not use any of the skilled youngsters in overtime. Instead, the units we saw were Gaudreau/Roslovic and Texier/Jenner. No Fantilli or Marchenko? What about Yegor Chinakhov, who was an OT hero multiple times last season?
Texier and Jenner did have a great breakaway chance, but Texier’s pass to Jenner was slightly off target, hit Jenner’s skates, and then Florida scored on an odd-man rush of their own the other way.
Final Thoughts
The big star of the game is Spencer Martin. He came off the bench and saved 34 of 36 shots faced and was perfect at 5v5. Can’t ask for much better from the backup goalie.
Peeke wasn’t obviously bad tonight, and was a +1, but also played the least time of the defensemen and had the worst CF% of Blue Jackets skaters. (10 shot attempts for, 29 against at 5v5).
After getting benched in the third period on Saturday, Gaudreau was tied with Jenner for the second most minutes (all situations) by Columbus forwards. Only a 39.13 CF% and 41.99 xGF%, while being on ice for one goal for and three against in all situations.
Mathieu Olivier and Justin Danforth led the team in 5v5 CF%, at 51.61 each. OK!
Up Next
The Dallas Stars visit Columbus on Thursday, for a 7:30 start time that can be seen exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu.