The Florida Panthers had their franchise record season-opening, three-game winning streak snapped by the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in a shootout on Thursday night at Nationwide Arena. Both teams ended up splitting the two-game set with shootout victories.
Mikko Koivu scored his first goal in a Columbus(3-2-3) jersey as the Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead with 2:57 remaining in the opening frame. Eric Robinson carried the puck around the net. He centered it and Koivu who put a wrist shot from the low slot past Chris Driedger.
Florida(3-0-1) tied it up 1-1 with 2:46 left in the second period. Alexandre Texier gave the puck away in his defensive zone. Anthony Duclair rushed through the right circle and his shot from close range was saved by Elvis Merzlikins. Carter Verhaeghe gathered the rebound at the top of the crease and scored his fourth goal of the season.
In the third period, the Blue Jackets got a power-play goal at 6:19 and reclaimed the lead 2-1. Max Domi the faceoff in the right circle and steered the puck to the blue line. Zach Werenski passed the puck to the top right circle and Domi blasted a one-time slap shot for his first goal with Columbus.
The Panthers matched it again 2-2 with 7:04 to go in the third. Anton Stralman snapped a shot from the top right circle which was stopped, however Eetu Luostarinen smacked in the rebound from inside the blue paint for his second tally of the campaign. Markus Nutivaara made his debut with Florida and picked up the secondary assist on the play.
Columbus got the only conversion during the shootout. Texier raced toward the cage and one-handed a shovel shot by Driedger on the Blue Jackets fourth attempt. It was the first shootout Driedger played in his NHL career.
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