Panthers Short On Comeback

     Even with a season-high 55 shots on goal, the Florida Panthers lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday night at BB&T Center. The Cats fell to the Jackets by one goal three days ago in Columbus.
     The first period seemed like a blitz by Columbus(8-15-2) when they scored twice and held the Panthers to no shots in the first seven minutes. The Blue Jackets got ahead 1:07 into the period as Nick Foligno scored his 11th goal of the year on a wraparound shot following a Scott Hartnell shot from the low right circle.
     Cam Atkinson made it 2-0 at 9:51 as he raced down the ice for a loose puck, picked it up at the top of the Panthers defensive zone and ripped a shot over the left glove of Roberto Luongo.
     Columbus got two shots in the first minute of the second and extended their margin to 3-0 when they scored 51 seconds into the frame. Boone Jenner pounced on a rebound and put in a tally on a backhand shot from the low slot.
     The rest of the period would belong to Florida(10-7-7) as they took the next 13 shots and overcame a 3-0 deficit. The line comprised of Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Tomas Fleischmann scored three times in less than five minutes.
     Bjugstad connected with Huberdeau and he sent a pass across to Fleischmann who snapped a shot over the left shoulder of Sergei Bobrovsky at 2:54.
     The Cats closed the gap to 3-2 at 5:04 of the stanza. Fleischmann sent a backhand cross-ice pass from the right wing to Bjugstad and he put a soft backhand shot from the left circle through the five-hole of the goalie.
     Florida added another goal at 7:34 on the power play to tie the contest. Huberdeau was on the left wing and passed down low to Bjugstad on the icing line and he roofed a shot from an acute angle for his second goal of the game and tenth goal this season. The Blue Jackets were outshot 19-1 in the final 19 minutes of the second period.
     There was no scoring in the third period and overtime, although the Panthers outshot their opponent 18-4 in the third. Columbus converted on their fourth attempt in the shootout as Ryan Johansen put a forehand shot over Luongo's blocker for the victory.