Bennett scores twice, Panthers hold off Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Sam Bennett scored twice, and Jacob Markstrom made 37 saves for the Florida Panthers in a 4-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.

Lars Eller and Sam Reinhart also scored, and Aaron Ekblad and Anton Lundell each had two assists for the Panthers (10-7-2), who had lost their previous two games.

“It's an important game after losing a couple here,” Markstrom said. “The guys played an unbelievable game. Everyone played hard. All four lines.”

Ivan Provorov scored, and Cam Talbot made 24 saves for the Blue Jackets (7-9-0), who have lost two in a row.

“We know that they're a pretty good defensive team,” Talbot said. “They don't give up a lot off the rush, and you see they clogged up the neutral zone pretty good and didn't really let us come in with a ton of speed all night. 

“When you keep the guys to the outside like they do most of the time, a guy like Markstrom's going to make those saves and he made some big saves in tight tonight too.”

Bennett made it 1-0 at 2:00 of the second period on the Panthers’ only power play. They were 4-for-6 on the man-advantage in a 7-3 victory against the Blue Jackets here Oct. 13.

Bennett was low in the left circle to convert a pass by Lundell, who had maneuvered around three defenders on the right wing.

Florida has scored at least one power-play goal in seven of its past eight games.

“The power play's been great,” Bennett said. “I think we had a slow start on the power play and then since the last 10 games, just a lot quicker, a lot crisper, a lot more direction, able to score a lot of big goals.”

Eller increased the lead to 2-0 at 4:17. Carter Verhaeghe took advantage of a giveaway by Provorov in his defensive zone and sent a backhanded pass to the trailing Eller, who scored with a one-timer from below the right hash marks.

“I liked the style of game more than anything else,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "I love the way we fight. I think Columbus played a heck of a game too.

“It was certainly not a domination. We were good through two (periods) for sure. I thought we gutted out that third period.”

Provorov cut it to 2-1 at 19:41, skating from left to right at the top of the zone and scoring with a backhand through traffic from the right circle.

The Blue Jackets have scored five goals in the past three games.

“We just need more traffic in front of the net,” Provorov said. “Look at our goal. We went low to high, (defenseman to defenseman), shot. Made them collapse a little high, then some movement at the top and then some traffic chaos. We just need more greasy goals.” 

Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness is frustrated but not discouraged by the lack of scoring.

“Let's give Markstrom some credit. I mean, we had over 70 shot attempts (73)," he said. “Some of them were Grade A's and were missing the net. That doesn't help.

“When you miss the net, you're missing two opportunities: the shot itself and then a potential rebound. So, I think we're getting into those areas now and guys are just squeezing their sticks a little bit.”

Bennett pushed it to 3-1 at 14:29 of the third period with the teams at 4-on-4. He put a wrist shot over the glove from the left circle.

Reinhart scored an empty-net goal at 17:44 for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk had an assist on the second Bennett goal to extend his point streak to five games (seven assists). He also has a 16-game point streak (24 points; 11 goals, 13 assists) against the Blue Jackets dating to Dec. 4, 2018; it is the third-longest active streak against a franchise, behind Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers (20 games against the Chicago Blackhawks) and Oilers teammate Connor McDavid (18 against the Nashville Predators). … Tkachuk’s father, Keith Tkachuk, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, had a point in 15 straight games against Columbus while playing for the St. Louis Blues from Dec. 1, 2001 to March 31, 2006. He and Matthew are the only father and son in NHL history to each have a point streak of at least 15 games against the same franchise. … Reinhart scored his 199th goal with the Panthers to pass Jonathan Huberdeau for the second-most in franchise history. Aleksander Barkov has 286. … Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski had a six-game point streak end.