Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) – Boone Jenner scored the game-winning goal
in the third period as the Columbus Blue Jackets ended a six-game losing
streak with a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Matt Calvert also scored and Kerby Rychel registered his first NHL point for
the Blue Jackets, whose last win was a 2-1 decision against San Jose on Nov.
15.
Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 24 shots in the win.
Aaron Ekblad supplied the lone marker for the Panthers, who had their two-game
win streak came to an end. Al Montoya stopped 21-of-23 shots.
The two teams close out their home-and-home set in Florida on Thursday.
Columbus, which announced that forward Artem Anisimov will miss 2-to-3 months
because of a torn triceps earlier in the day, had its recent luck reverse at
9:55 of the third period.
With the score tied at 1-1, Jenner guided the puck, which took an odd bounce
off the boards, into the slot. Rychel gathered it and sent a shot on net. The
shot was stopped, but Jenner was there to backhand it home.
The Panthers pulled Montoya with under a minute to play, but were unable to
force overtime.
Michael Chaput tracked down the puck behind the net and dished a pass in the
slot to Calvert, who dragged the puck from his forehand to his backhand and
deposited the puck into a wide-open net to open the scoring with 4:53 left in
the first.
Ekblad tied it with his third of the season 1:23 into the second, as he rifled
a point blast past a screened Bobrovsky and into the back of the net.
Game Notes
Columbus won its ninth straight game against Florida … The Panthers last
defeated the Blue Jackets on Nov. 21, 2007 … Florida went 1-for-3 on the
power play, while Columbus went 0-for-2 … Blue Jackets forward Jack Skille
had a game-high five shots on net.
