Blue Jackets Outscore Panthers

     It was a scoring fest in Sunrise as the the Florida Panthers lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 on Thursday night at BB&T Center. It was the fourth game of a five-game home stand for the Panthers.
     Florida(4-7-1) started on top early as they scored at the 4:57 mark. Vincent Trocheck advanced through the right circle and shot the puck. Sergei Bobrovsky made the save and Mark Pysyk put in the rebround from the top of the blue paint for his second goal of the year.
     The Blue Jackets evened the contest 1-1 at 11:32. Brandon Dubinsky carried the puck around the Panthers cage to the right of the crease. He sent a cross-ice pass through the crease area and Josh Anderson roofed a wrist shot over James Reimer.
     Columbus(9-4-0) took their first lead of the game with 3:33 remaining in the first period. Boone Jenner made a pass from the right point to Markus Nutivaara in the right corner. He centered the puck and Anderson fired a slap shot from the right face-off circle for his second goal of the game.
     In the second period, the Panthers struck quickly 35 seconds in to make it 2-2. Radim Vrbata had the puck on the left wing and passed back to Ian McCoshen. His slap shot went traffic and into the Blue Jackets cage for his second goal of the season.
     It did not take long for Florida to surrender the lead at the 5:21 mark. Markus Hannikainen put in his first goal of the season from the low slot after the puck went off David Savard next to him.
     The Blue Jackets went on their second power play and gave up a shorthanded goal at 8:43. Vincent Trocheck took advantage of a defenseman who slipped on the ice. He got the loose puck on the left-wing wall, went to the low left circle and let go a soft snap shot that fooled Bobrovsky.
     Columbus still converted on the man-advantage situation 9:11 into the second period. Seth Jones connected a pass from the left point to Oliver Bjorkstrand at the top of the right circle. He was able to get a tally on a snap shot. Antti Niemi came in and replaced Reimer in goal for the Cats.
     Bjorkstrand added his second goal of the contest to give the Blue Jackets a two-goal cushion of 5-3 with 8:33 left in the second. He brought the puck from the left corner, through the left circle and scored on a wrist shot from the slot area.
     The momentum remained with Columbus in the third and they made it 6-3 at 3:45. Jenner made a drop pass in the low slot and Tyler Motte followed with a wrist shot for his second goal of the year.
     They scored their second power-play goal on their third power play of the contest at the 6:12 mark for a 7-3 lead. Artemi Panarin skated with the puck to the top right circle and he released a snap shot which deflected off Jenner.