Touchdown: Blue Jackets Steamroll Panthers, 7-3, In Opener of Three-Game Road Trip

By Rob Mixer on November 2, 2017 at 10:14 pm
Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones
Steve Mitchell - USA TODAY Sports
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The Blue Jackets made it an early night for James Reimer, scoring four times in the first 25 minutes to bring Antti Niemi into the game.

It didn't go much better for Niemi, either.

  1 2 3 F
BLUE JACKETS 2 3 2 7
PANTHERS 1 2 0 3

Columbus led 2-1 after the first period, 5-3 after the second period and didn't let off the gas in the third. Their power play connected twice (take that, narrative!) and looked potent in the second half of the game, and after a leaky start, Sergei Bobrovsky tightened up and was solid the rest of the way in a convincing 7-3 win.

The Blue Jackets are 9-4-0 and opened their three-game road trip with two points before heading to Tampa on Saturday.

They've talked a lot about how they start games — tonight wasn’t a Monet by any stretch of the imagination, but they broke out their best brushes and wrestled the canvas back from the Panthers midway through the first period. Florida started hot, scoring a garbage goal only 4:57 into the first period when defenseman Mark Pysyk crept down and buried a rebound past Bobrovsky.

From that point on, the game belonged to the Blue Jackets.

Josh Anderson scored a pair of goals, his fourth and fifth of the young season, to give Columbus a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. The first goal was the product of a strong offensive zone shift and a better pass from Brandon Dubinsky, who zipped the puck across the crease for Anderson to jam into an open net.

Markus Nutivaara activated from his point position to set up Anderson’s second goal, a laser beam wrist shot inside the far post on James Reimer.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored two goals of his own, a power play laser beam and then another wicked shot that reminded everyone just how talented he is.

Injury Update

Cam Atkinson missed practice this week with a lower body injury and came in sick yesterday, Tortorella said. He did not play Thursday against the Panthers and is considered day-to-day. Gabriel Carlsson, out with an upper body injury (IR), is on the trip with the Blue Jackets.

Next Up

The Blue Jackets continue their three-game road trip on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Game time at Amalie Arena is 7:30 p.m.

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