Panthers Lose 4th Straight as Chances of Three Peat Fade

Mathieu Olivier scored two goals and Ivan Provorov scored once and had a pair of assists as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Florida Panthers 4-2 in Columbus on March 5th. The mighty are free falling; the two time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers have fallen into last place in the Atlantic Division of the NHL Eastern Conference, and are second from the bottom in the entire Eastern Conference. Florida has lost four in a row and eight of 10 and have 63 points. They are 10 points behind the Boston Bruins for the final Wild Card, and with six weeks to go in the regular season, are in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.

Columbus, on the other hand, has been hot, with a record of 8-1-1 over the last 10 games. The Blue Jackets late season surge has placed them just a point behind the Bruins. Columbus hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2019-20 season. The Blue Jackets were 40-33-9 last season, good for 89 points but that was two points short of the final Wild Card.

The Panthers will be at Detroit for another tough road game on March 6th. The Red Wings (77 points) are third in the Atlantic Division. Columbus will host Utah on March 7th.