The Columbus Blue Jackets were completely overmatched, not just on Thursday against the Florida Panthers but on this entire final road trip of the season.
The Panthers rolled four lines and pressured the Blue Jackets into oblivion on Thursday, scoring two quick-strike goals late in the second period and cruising to a 4-0 win before an announced crowd of 18,451 in Amerant Bank Arena.
Why were there so many empty seats for the playoff-bound, Stanley Cup-candidate Panthers? Maybe the locals knew what to expect.
Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who soared to elite status in the NHL with the Blue Jackets more than a decade ago, had 25 saves for his league-leading sixth shutout of the season and the 44th of his career. He’s now 11-2-1 vs. Columbus, with two shutouts.
The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, have now dropped 10 consecutive road games (0-9-1) for the seventh time in franchise history, including seven straight road regulation losses. The franchise record for consecutive road losses is 14, in 2003-04.
The only performance worth noting for the Blue Jackets was goaltender Jet Greaves, who made 42 saves and helped Columbus avoid embarrassment.
“We could have done a better job tonight,” Blue Jackets veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “We didn’t manage the puck very well through the neutral zone. They kinda three-quarter iced us for the whole game. It’s tough going back for pucks like that every shift, then gapping up at the blue line and going back again.
“We might have lost a step through that, through our mismanagement. But at the end of the day, they were 100 percent better than us the whole game.”
That’s the type of blunt assessment the Blue Jackets don’t typically tolerate, but it’s hard to quibble with Gudbranson’s explanation. His description of the Jackets getting “three-quarter iced” is definitely player-speak, but it’s the perfect description of what went down.
The Blue Jackets had trouble getting out of their own zone and trouble getting through the neutral zone with possession of the puck. Part of that, no question, was the Panthers’ forecheck, their team speed and their voracity with which they hound and hunt every puck.
No quit in front from E-Rod!! pic.twitter.com/qFGiATjtpu
— x – Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) April 12, 2024
But the Jackets were plenty sloppy, too, especially rookie defenseman David Jiricek.
Jiricek got away with at least a couple of blunders in the first period — a flubbed puck in his own zone, a risky pinch that led to a two-on-one — but he wasn’t so lucky late in the second, when Florida’s Evan Rodrigues blew past him in the neutral zone and carried the puck hard to the net.
Rodriques lost the puck momentarily, but teammate Anton Lundell sent the puck back to him at net-front for an easy score behind Greaves to give Florida a 2-0 lead.
Then, only 1:41, the Panthers scored again to make it 3-0.
“(Panthers coach Paul Maurice) was rolling four lines, he’s getting his players ready for the playoffs again,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “They had some great chances in the first and second period, but Jet was really good. That’s more a real picture of what happened.”
How little did the Blue Jackets have the puck? The Panthers are one of the most physical teams in the league, but Columbus had a 38-16 advantage in hits. That tells you how much Florida had the puck and how rarely the Blue Jackets maintained possession.
The Blue Jackets have a makeshift lineup these days, as the club has been decimated by injuries since early last month. Their top line was Justin Danforth, center Johnny Gaudreau and Dmitry Voronkov, and the line generated only one shot on goal (by Danforth).
Gaudreau didn’t have so much as a shot attempt and played only 14:44, eighth among Blue Jackets forwards.
“You have to get the puck in deep early in your shift and go to work from there,” Gudbranson said. “You can’t create offense after 30 seconds in your own end and then get the puck only to the far blue line.
“We can manage the puck much better than that. Jet stood tall, but we have to manage the puck a lot better and give ourselves a chance to create earlier in shifts.”
Greaves’ 42 saves were his second-most this season. It also marked the 18th time — in 80 games, or about once every 4.5 games — that the Blue Jackets have allowed an opponent to generate 40 or more shots on goal in a game. Only San Jose (19), the NHL’s worst club, has allowed 40 or more shots more times, per the NHL.
The Blue Jackets’ final road trip of the season now heads to Nashville, which has been their most dreaded city in the NHL since they joined the league 23 seasons ago. The Jackets are just 9-25-7 (a .245 points percentage) on the Predators’ home ice.
(Photo of Jet Greaves: Sam Navarro / USA Today)
