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Columbus Blue Jackets flattened by Florida Panthers: 4 takeaways
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- Columbus Blue Jackets flattened by Florida Panthers: 4 takeaways
It's time for the Blue Jackets to hit the reset button.
After one of the highest emotional peaks an NHL team can experience in a regular-season game following their victory over the Detroit Red Wings in front of 94,751 on Saturday at Ohio Stadium, the Jackets were flattened in Florida .
Oct 15, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski (8) shoots the puck against Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) in the third period during the home opener at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.
Dealing with an NHL Stadium Series "hangover" was largely to blame Tuesday in a 6-2 thumping by the Tampa Bay Lightning , but losing 3-0 Thursday to the Florida Panthers had nothing to do with the Jackets' outdoors victory five days earlier. The Panthers dominated from start to finish, built a 36-16 edge in shots and allowed former Blue Jackets star Sergei Bobrovsky to earn his fourth shutout of the season while barely breaking a sweat.
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More: Florida Panthers stifle Columbus Blue Jackets, help Sergei Bobrovsky post 3-0 shutout
The Blue Jackets are clinging to a playoff spot with 20 games left and have two more tough road games coming up against the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils . They returned to Columbus late Thursday night, so it's time to regroup.
Here are four takeaways from their humbling loss Thursday in Sunrise, Florida:
Columbus Blue Jackets barely holding onto a playoff spot
The Jackets limped back to Columbus still in the first wild card spot of the Eastern Conference, but there's a pack of four teams all within two points hot on their heels.
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The Blue Jackets might be one of those teams looking up at the Detroit Red Wings had it not been for Utah, a.k.a. The Team With No Name. Utah overcame a 2-1 deficit after one period in Detroit to hand the Red Wings their third straight loss, keeping them just outside the second wild card at 66 points.
The Ottawa Senators hold that spot with 67 points, but only via tiebreaker over the Rangers . They're both just one point behind the Blue Jackets, while the Montreal Canadiens and Red Wings are tied at 66. Expanding the scope even more, the Boston Bruins (64 points), New York Islanders (63 points) and Philadelphia Flyers are all within six points of the Jackets, who would have been leapfrogged by tiebreaker had the Red Wings beaten Utah.
Florida Panthers showed why they're Stanley Cup contenders again
Even without star power forward Matthew Tkachuk , who's likely out until the playoffs, the Panthers made Bobrovsky's night a breeze. While building a 2-0 lead after two periods on power-play goals in the first and second, Florida used a heavy forecheck and stifling neutral zone structure to almost completely shut down a Blue Jackets offense normally capable of scoring goals in bunches.
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The Panthers finished the first two periods with shot margins of 16-7 and 12-3 while drawing four power plays and scoring twice during those man-advantages. They played bigger, stronger and more aggressively to give the upstart Blue Jackets a taste of the intensity they'll face during the season's final stretch.
Elvis Merzlikins now a key puzzle piece for Columbus Blue Jackets
One critical area the Blue Jackets have improved significantly from earlier in the season is goaltending, specifically with their highest-paid netminder.
Elvis Merzlikins allowed just two goals on 35 shots against the Panthers while being peppered heavily for the third straight game. Those looking for bright sides to the past two lopsided losses can start and possibly end right there. Merzlikins is the Blue Jackets' most experienced and highest-paid goalie, and he's played up to that billing for quite some time now.
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Despite the Blue Jackets being outshot in 14 of his past 20 starts, Merzlikins has posted a 12-7-1 record, 2.84 goals-against average and .906 save percentage. According to Natural Stat Trick , he's also faced the third-highest number of shots (609) among goalies who've played a minimum of 1,100 minutes, making the third-most saves (552) and posting a solid 2.30 goals-saved above average during that span.
Merzlikins has also led the NHL in his past 20 outings in high-danger shots (168) and high-danger saves (136).
Mathieu Olivier takes a stand for Columbus Blue Jackets again
The Panthers came out of the gate looking to impose their will physically, including an early run at Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson that prompted James van Riemsdyk to take a roughing penalty standing up for his younger linemate.
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That was 58 seconds into the game, and it got nastier. Florida's Jonah Gadjovich , a little-used forward, picked up a roughing minor and fighting major during an early scrap with Joe Labate, and he wasn't done fighting.
Gadjovich also squared with Mathieu Olivier late in the opening period after appearing to decline a fight invitation preceding a faceoff. Seconds after that conversation with Olivier, Gadjovich tried to smash Blue Jackets rookie defenseman Denton Mateychuk , which prompted Olivier to respond by crushing Panthers center Tomas Nosek into the wall near the benches.
Seconds later, the gloves came off in a scrap Olivier appeared to win against Gadjovich. It was a prime example of why the Blue Jackets love Olivier, an emotion-driven heavyweight whose versatility as a forward led to a six-year contract extension Wednesday worth $18 million to keep him in Columbus .
"He's a big piece of what's going on here," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason told reporters Thursday. "Everybody clearly sees his physicality and his ability to drop his gloves, but I think what a lot of people don't see is his leadership in the (locker) room, his physicality, his willingness to finish checks, block shots and do everything that he needs to do to help the hockey team win."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets flattened by Florida Panthers: 4 takeaways
