Florida Panthers rally twice and beat Blue Jackets in shootout to remain undefeated

Patric Hornqvist gave the Florida Panthers life and ultimately kept them undefeated.

The Panthers rallied from an early two-goal deficit and tied the game again with seconds left in regulation to force overtime before defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 (shootout) at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.

The Panthers are 3-0-0 for the first time in franchise history.

And it was Hornqvist’s team-leading fourth goal of the season that forced overtime and his round in the shootout that sealed the victory after Florida and Columbus were tied through four rounds.

“He’s been huge for us so far and he’s going to be huge for us the whole season,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said of Hornqvist. “The leadership he brings in the locker room and on the ice by scoring big goals for us, it helps a lot to have a veteran guy like him.”

Carter Verhaeghe and Barkov scored goals for Florida, who had a 31-22 advantage in shots on goal.

After giving up goals on the first two shots he faced, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 of the final 20 that came his way, including five in overtime, and held the Blue Jackets to a one-for-five mark during the shootout.

“From start to finish,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said, “we deserved that win tonight.”

The Panthers last played on Jan. 19 after having two games against the Carolina Hurricanes last week postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Hurricanes organization. Florida also had its first two scheduled games of the season against the Dallas Stars postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Stars’ organization.

Tuesday, however, marked the start of a two-city, four-game, six-day road trip that includes a second game against Columbus on Thursday and back-to-back games against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday and Sunday.

How the scoring unfolded

The Blue Jackets (2-2-3) needed just two shots to score their first two goals.

Kevin Stenlund put Columbus on the board just 2:11 into the game when his shot from the right board deflected off a sliding Radko Gudas, between Bobrovsky’s legs and into the net.

Seven minutes later, Alexandre Texier tips in the puck after Bobrovsky deflects an Oliver Bjorkstrand shot from the slot to give Columbus the early 2-0 edge.

Verhaeghe cut Florida’s deficit to 2-1 when his shot from just behind the net that ricocheted off Columbus goaltender Joonas Korpisalo’s right leg and into the net with 6:49 left in the first period.

Barkov tied the game at 2-2 with a snap shot from the left circle on a feed from Verhaeghe just under four minutes into the second period for his first goal of the season.

Cam Atkinson gave Columbus the lead again one minute and 20 seconds into the final period, racing past Keith Yandle with Florida on the power play and firing a wrist shot from the right circle past Bobrovsky, who could only put his head down on the ice as Atkinson and Nick Foligno celebrated the shorthanded goal behind the net.

The Panthers, aggressive through the third period, finally tied the game again with three seconds left when a long shot from Aaron Ekblad deflected off Hornqvist and into the net. Hornqvist has scored at least one goal in each of his first three games with the Panthers.

“If you do the right thing over and over, you’re going to get rewarded,” Hornqvist said. “... Right now, we got a good mood in the group and we want to keep everyone happy here.”

Solid penalty kill

Granted it’s a small sample size, but the Panthers entered Tuesday last in the NHL in penalty kill efficiency after giving up three goals in five attempts when down a player during their first two games of the season against Chicago.

The early struggles weren’t lost on Quenneville, who spent a good chunk of Florida’s extended practice time last week working on special teams.

That facet of the game paid off for Florida on Tuesday. The Panthers killed off all six penalties they faced on Tuesday, including a four-minute double minor on Owen Tippett in regulation and a four-on-three situation at the end of overtime to force the shootout. The Panthers held Columbus to just four shots on goal while on the penalty kill during regulation. Bobrovsky stopped five more during the 4 on 3 in overtime.

“I think that penalty killing-wise,” Quenneville said pre-game, “there’s some areas that we can be more aware, be it on entries, pressure points, in zones, clears, shooting lanes, all the things that create quality chances. It’s something that we try to minimize as best we can.”

Aggressive Barkov

While the Panthers’ top forward line overall has impressed through the first three games — Barkov and Verhaeghe have four of Florida’s 13 goals and Anthony Duclair has a team-high four assists — Barkov particularly stood out on Tuesday.

Barkov, the Panthers’ pass-first captain and center of the top line, recorded a team-high eight shots on goal against Columbus. That matches the eight total shots on goal he had in the first two games against Chicago and marked just the fourth time in 482 career games that Barkov had at least eight shots on goal.