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Game 63 Recap: Jackets 4 Panthers 3 (SO)

This game was weird.

Aside from the fact it was a rare matinee, the game yesterday afternoon between the Jackets and Panthers saw a little bit of everything. The Panthers made three separate trades during the game, acquiring Teddy Purcell, Jiri Hudler and Jakub Kindl. Meanwhile, trade rumors surrounding Scott Hartnell hit a fever pitch midway through the game.

With Jack Johnson injured, Michael Paliotta made his Columbus debut. It was a tough first game for the defenseman, taking two minor penalties and getting burned on Florida’s first goal of the game. The goal was off the skate of Aleksander Barkov. After the first period the score was 1-0 Florida, who led 13-1 on the shot clock.

The Panthers thought they went up 2-0 early in the second period, when off a two-on-one Vincent Trocheck used Derek MacKenzie as a decoy, keeping the puck and wiring a shot past Joonas Korpisalo. The Jackets challenged the goal, thinking MacKenzie was offside. After a review, it was determined that in fact MacKenzie was in the zone first, and the goal was disallowed.

The Jackets’ first decent chance came midway through the game, when Cam Atkinson crashed the net on Roberto Luongo. The puck went wide, and Luongo needed a moment to shake out some cobwebs.

Trochek scored again, and this time there was no doubt. With Korpisalo screened, Trocheck fired the puck through bodies to give Florida the two-goal lead.

Seconds later, the Jackets cut the lead in half. Alexander Wennberg shook off two defenders, before finding Scott Hartnell. Hartnell showed good patience, out-waiting Luongo before firing the puck into the open net. At the time of this writing, Hartnell was still just rumored to be on the move. If this was his last game as a Jacket, he played it in the most Hartnell way possible.

After scoring his goal, he then scuttled a powerplay with an ill-advised slash on Alex Petrovic, and just after stepping out of the box he was sent back in for boarding. He would take a third minor later in the game, a delay-of-game call when he sent the puck over the glass.

With the score 2-1 Panthers starting the third period, the Jackets earned an early powerplay thanks to Trochek tripping up Fedor Tyutin. The Jackets would tie the game on the man advantage thanks to Seth Jones‘ first goal as a Blue Jacket, a knucklepuck that fooled Luongo.

The Jackets would take the lead off the stick of Brandon Saad, scoring his 24th of the season, a new career high. Logan Shaw tied the game on the Hartnell delay-of-game penalty, but with 31 seconds left the Jackets were given a prime opportunity to ice the game with a Dmitry Kulikov penalty.

The score remained tied at the end of regulation, and the Jackets were on the 4-3 advantage to start overtime. Atkinson thought he had scored early, but it was determined he knocked the puck in with a high stick. The teams would trade chances, but no dice.

In the shootout, Atkinson and Wennberg were stopped by Luongo, while Barkov and Nick Bjugstad both found iron. Brandon Dubinsky scored, and with the game on the line Trocheck lost control of the puck.

FINAL SCORE: 4-3 Jackets in a shootout.

For the advanced stats for this game,check out War on Ice.he Jackets are back at on trade deadline Monday, against the Rangers.