Florida Panthers @ Columbus Blue Jackets: Season 25 3/5/26

 Tonight, the Blue Jackets were at home and showed the control we saw before the Olympic Break. Impressive considering Zach Werenski missed another game due to Illness, and I hope he feels better soon. Further, our D-Line would take another hit as Dante Fabbro was announced out minutes before puck drop with a lower-body injury. I wish both men well and hope to see them back on the ice soon! 

Now, the Florida Panthers haven't looked great recently. That said, as someone who played sports herself, you never underestimate an opponent, no matter how bad their playing. You don't want to be the team that relaxes and gives an underperforming team its mojo back. Adding emphasis to this point, both of these teams are fighting for playoff hopes, and this team has won it all the last two seasons. So, best believe they'll bring it, and they did, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's recap some hockey, 5th Line!  

The Blue Jackets would have the only goal in Period 1. It would be a power play goal from Ivan Provorov at 5:08 as Panthers' Mackie Samoskevich sat in the box for holding Blue Jackets' Cole Sillinger. This goal marks the seventh this season for Ivan Provorov. Seean Monahan adds his eighteenth assist this season with the primary assist on this goal, while Kirill Marchenko hits thirty with the secondary assist. The Blue Jackets would lead 1-0 on the scoreboard and 9-8 with shots on goal, too. 

Period 2 would be a copy and paste of Period 1. The Blue Jackets would have the only goal of the period again! At 10:50, Mathieu Olivier would hit the double-digit goal count with his tenth this season! Egor Zamula gets his third assist this season on the primary, while Ivan Provorov adds his sixteenth assist on the secondary to his seventh goal in Period 1, giving himself a multipoint night! The Blue Jackets would again lead this period, but this time 2-0 on the scoreboard, and 10-7 with shots on goal. 

Period 3 is where things would get a bit tense. First, the good. Our captain, Boone Jenner, would make it 3-0 with goal nine of his season at 1:41! Kent Johnson would have the only assist on the Blue Jackets' third goal, giving him his thirteenth this season. Then, the Panthers would start to mount their comeback. Niko Mikkola would score the Panthers first goal of the night at 9:08. Aaron Ekblad adds his twenty-first assist this season with the primary, and Sam Reinhart adds his thirtieth with the secondary. A few minutes later, while Kirill Marchenko sat in the box for holding Panthers' Dmitry Kulikov, Sam Bennett brought his road team within a goal. This power play goal would become his twenty-third this season. Aaron Ekblad gets his second primary assist tonight, giving him twenty-two this season, on the primary, and Matthew Tkachuk gets his ninth on the secondary. Now, it would appear as if Gustav Forsling had scored the tying goal late in the third period. Rick Bowness would challenge this for goaltender interference against Jet Greaves, and we won. The Blue Jackets wouldn't squander their second chance at a regulation win, and Mathieu Olivier would put a bow on this game with an empty net goal at 18:18! It's his second goal tonight and eleventh this season! Charlie Coyle gets his thirty-first assist with the primary, and Ivan Provorov adds a second assist to his night, giving himself seventeen this season. Whew. It's a 4-2 victory at home for the Blue Jackets, a third in a row! The Panthers took the final shots on goal battle 13-8, but we won where it mattered! 

Jet Greaves gets the Third Star of the game with his 26 saves on 28 Panthers' shots on his net. This gives him a respectable .929 Save Percentage. 

With the second and fourth goals tonight for his Columbus Blue Jackets, Mathieu Oliver gets the Second Star of the Game!

With the first goal of the night, and an assist on goals two and four, Ivan Provorov gets the First Star of the Game! 

Every two points matter, but tonight's feel extra special. The Boston Bruins, who had us in the standings by 3 points ahead of the games tonight, could only have us by a point if the Nashville Predators pull off a win at home tonight. With 20 minutes to play, Smashville currently leads 5-1. So, go Predators! Bonus: The Penguins are only ahead of us by 3 points now after the Buffalo Sabers took care of business on the road. That was also a 5-1 final. I'm proud of our guys for making it to 72 points with 21 games to play, but there's more to accomplish this season than being proud of points and wins; rather, what they mean when 82 games are in the books, and the last sixteen teams are standing. This team is capable, and I love seeing our boys fight for their own destiny this year instead of letting other teams decide their fate for them.  

One uneasy note to add to the joy. We did lose Mason Marchment in the third period to injury. Rick Bowness said in the post-game that it is a lower-body injury, but he won't know anything else till tomorrow. I really hope he's okay because he adds so much to this team. 

The Blue Jackets will have a night off tomorrow before playing another homegame on Saturday. The Utah Mammoth comes to town for their only game in Columbus this season. The puck will drop at 7:99 p.m.    

GO CBJ!!!


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