COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe scored four goals to reach his 40th season, Alex Lyon made 21 saves for his first shutout and the Florida Panthers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-0 Saturday to advance to the NBA finals. the Eastern Conference. playoff spot.
Sam Reinhart added a goal and two assists, Nick Cousins and Eric Staal also scored and Anthony Duclair and Aleksander Barkov each had three assists in the Panthers’ third straight road win.
Florida moved one point ahead of Pittsburgh for eighth place in the conference, with five games remaining on the Panthers’ schedule.
“Resilience is the most important part of this journey we’ve been on since January,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We can bounce back after difficult losses or injuries. We will have to keep grinding.”
Michael Hutchinson stopped 42 shots for Columbus, which was shut out for the fifth time this season and has lost four in a row. The Blue Jackets are tied with Chicago for the worst record in the NHL.
Florida dominated early on, using a power play score from Reinhart, their team-leading 15th of the season, and a goal from Verhaeghe for a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.
Verhaeghe took charge of the second half, making it 3-0 after 18 seconds and completing a natural hat trick, the third of his career, just over six minutes later.
“It was a solid effort from start to finish,” Verhaeghe said. “Everyone played well, the four lines played well. (Lyon) was great back there. It was amazing. It was a good team effort. We want it to continue like this in the next games”.
Cousins made it 5-0 at 8:34 of the third before Verhaeghe added his team-leading 40th.
Staal made it 7-0 with 5:44 to play.
“We had some early moments, but they scored easily, as far as some of their goals, and they started rolling there, and then we were chasing them,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “It was not a good recipe.”
FOUR SCORE
Verhaeghe is the third player in Panthers history to have a four game, joining Pavel Bure (twice) and Mark Parrish.
MILESTONE MAN
Tkachuk’s 64th assist of the season is the most by an active player in his first season with a franchise, surpassing Sidney Crosby and Artemi Panarin, both with 63.
MAN LESS
Blue Jackets defenseman Andrew Peeke went −6 in the game, a franchise record.
SICK AND INJURED
Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky missed his third straight game due to a non-COVID illness. Columbus’ Jack Roslovic and Lane Pederson were injured,
LIST MOVEMENTS
To fill their widening gaps due to injuries, the Blue Jackets added defenseman Marcus Bjork, center Josh Dunne, left end Joona Luoto and center Justin Richards on an emergency recall from the AHL Monsters. Richards, playing in his second NHL game, is the son of former Columbus coach Todd Richards.
FRIGHTENING
The Blue Jackets’ Trey Fix-Wolansky, who overslept and missed a team meeting, was optioned back to Cleveland from the AHL.
HE SAID THAT
“I wish I could be super humble, but it actually feels really good. It’s one of those things that he always wanted but the opportunity never presented itself. — Lyons on her shutout.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Panthers: Host Buffalo on Tuesday night.
Blue Jackets: Host Ottawa on Sunday night.
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