Blue Jackets lose wild game to Panthers in overtime – The Hockey Writers Columbus Blue Jackets Latest news, analysis and more

The Columbus Blue Jackets entered their game against the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon hoping to get their three-game road trip off to a good start. But as usual in recent matches, extra time was needed.

Sam Bennett scored the winning goal with just under four seconds left in overtime the Panthers to a wild 7-6 victory over the Blue Jackets. Bennett and Brad Marchand each finished with four points. Carter Verhaeghe added three points. The Blue Jackets got points from 13 different skaters in the losing effort.

The story of this match was that the defending champions didn’t let up despite being behind multiple goals at various points in the match.

Summary of the game

The first period started off tamely enough. The teams traded goals midway through the first period. Damon Severson deflected Ivan Provorov’s shot and opened the scoring. Then Evan Rodrigues tied the score about two minutes later.

Then things got really crazy. In the second period, both teams combined to score seven goals. The Blue Jackets stormed out to a 4-1 lead thanks to three goals in about five minutes from Dmitri Voronkov, Miles Wood and Kirill Marchenko.

Then controversy struck. A key call went in the Panthers’ favor.

Verhaeghe scored his first goal of the match to reduce the score to 4-2. Before the goal, it appeared the puck hit Marchand’s glove. The Blue Jackets challenged for a missed stoppage because they felt a handpass should have been called. The officials ruled that the puck was deflected and not considered a handpass. That goal was allowed to stand. The Panthers quickly tied the score.

Verhaeghe scored on the resulting power play from a failed challenge to make it 4-3. Three minutes later, Seth Jones scored on the power play to make it 4-4. This wasn’t the only instance where the Panthers came back from being down by several goals.

Cole Sillinger scored with 1:34 left in the second to make it 5-4. To open the third, Isac Lundestrom scored his first as a Blue Jacket on a great pass from Wood, making it 6-4.

Once again the Panthers found a way back. Marchand scored on a drive to the net to make it 6-5. Then, with 5:42 left in regulation, Anton Lundell tied the game at 6.

Both teams had chances to win the match on the power play. The Panthers failed to convert at the end of regulation. The Blue Jackets failed to convert midway through the third and into overtime. The match was then decided in the final seconds.

Marchand was able to get the puck to Bennett and he beat Elvis Merzlikins to secure the 7-6 win. The Panther came back from 4-1 and 6-4 behind to win this one.

Merzlikins made 33 saves on the 40 shots he faced. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 25 saves that day.

The Blue Jackets now have to fly to Washington DC for a Sunday night game against the Capitals. The Panthers come right back and host the New York Islanders on Sunday night.