Blanked on the road.
The Panthers stars shined tonight as Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov each scored while Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves in the Panthers' 4-0 win over the Blue Jackets at FLA Live Arena Tuesday.
1st Period
The Blue Jackets had their first grade-A chance of the night at 2:34 when Erik Gudbranson deked his way past two Panthers defenders and had a good look from the right doorstep but was denied by Bobrovsky.
I did not think Id see this today #CBJ pic.twitter.com/zQsYD5VFU2
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) December 14, 2022
The Jackets had another big chance at 5:48 after Johnny Gaudreau sprung a two-on-one with Gustav Nyquist on the left wing with Vladislav Gavrikov on the right wing, but Nyquist's pass was deflected and the two shots he fired from close range were denied.
Florida opened the scoring at 9:04 when Brandon Montour fired a shot from the left circle through a screen by Tkachuk and past Elvis Merzlikins.
Boone Jenner nearly tied the game at 15:24 when he hit the post from the slot.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission along with an 11-9 edge in shots on goal.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLUE JACKETS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FLA PANTHERS | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
2nd Period
Jake Christiansen hit the crossbar at 2:23, nearly tying the game.
The Panthers doubled their lead at 3:47 when Sam Reinhart drove below the left goal line and found Tkachuk at the bottom of the left circle where he was able to fire a wrist shot past Merzlikins.
Andrew Peeke had a chance to cut the lead in half at 13:40 on a wide-open wrist shot from the right circle but was denied by Bobrovsky.
At 15:13, Tkachuk fired a shot from the left-wing side that deflected off of Barkov and behind Merzlikins, but was cleared by Marcus Bjork.
Barkov got his goal at 19:16, scoring on a wrist shot from a tough angle just above the left goal line following a rebound given up by Merzlikins.
Florida took a 3-0 lead into the third period along with a 20-18 advantage in shots on goal.
3rd Period
Montour nearly scored his second goal of the game at 4:47 as he hit the post on a wrist shot from the right circle.
Sam Reinhart scored an empty-netter from the right side of the neutral zone to give Florida 4-0 lead at 18:14.
The score would hold as the Blue Jackets fell to 10-16-2 on the season.
Stats
- Shots on Goal: CBJ 22-27 FLA
- Faceoff %: CBJ 48.9-51.1 FLA
- Power play: CBJ 0/3-0/3 FLA
- Takeaways: CBJ 6-4 FLA
- Giveaways: CBJ 10-9 FLA
- Blocked shots: CBJ 13-16 FLA
- Hits: CBJ 23-15 FLA
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5-on-5 stats (via naturalstattrick.com):
- Expected Goals (xG): CBJ 1.94-1.64 FLA
- Chances (CF): CBJ 43-42 FLA
- Shots (SF): CBJ 20-19 FLA
- Scoring Chances (SCF): CBJ 23-20 FLA
- High-Danger Chances (HDCF): CBJ 9-9 FLA
Injury Update
No players left tonight's game with injuries.
Next Up
The Jackets are back in action Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET in Tampa to face the Lightning on Bally Sports Ohio and 97.1 FM The Fan.
Their road trip concludes Saturday at 1 p.m. ET in Boston against the Bruins on Bally Sports Ohio, NHL Network, and 97.1 FM The Fan.
