John Tortorella said that he needed more from a number of his veteran players, including Sunday night’s starting goaltender, Curtis McElhinney.
One of the only reasons the Blue Jackets weren’t completely buried after 20 minutes was their goaltender, and McElhinney made 17 saves on 19 Florida Panthers shots in the opening frame. Eight Panthers players had at least two shots in the first, which means eight Panthers had more shots on their own than Columbus did as a team (one).
It was certainly a forgettable start, but despite shaking it off and playing a better second period, the poor start was too much to overcome.
The Panthers got a big insurance goal from Aleksander Barkov – who scored twice in the game – in the third period, and they held on from that point forward to win their sixth straight game and climb into first place in the Atlantic Division.
For the Blue Jackets, it was another case of penalties, mistakes and, as a result, an undesirable result.
“It’s not a science, it’s just playing with discipline,” Tortorella said. “Some (penalties) you can’t control, some of them we can control by being disciplined. We have to continue to work at that.
“We didn’t play a good first, but we found a way to get our legs underneath us and generate some offense. I thought we played quicker (after the first period) and it started with our gaps in the neutral zone, it helped us turn some pucks over. But it’s not enough.”
The first period was a nightmare scenario for the Blue Jackets.
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