Three Takeaways from the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 Win at Florida

Second period woes and an elite Korpi on display for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It wasn’t the cleanest or easiest win for the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Florida Panthers, but two points is two points. Behind a great performance from Joonas Korpisalo, Artemi Panarin and Anthony Duclair, the Jackets rallied to defeat the Panthers 5-4 in regulation.

The Jackets first and third periods were again solid last night as they outscored the Panthers 4-1 in those two periods combined. But the second stanza? Not great again from John Tortorella’s group.

A win is a win though and the Jackets will head to Tampa to take on the Lightning Saturday night. Here’s three things to think about between now and then.

1. Joonas Korpisalo is not your average backup.

Although a quick look at the box score would say differently, Joonas Korpisalo played a fantastic 60 minutes last night. The backup net-minder stopped 37 of the 41 Panther shots including at least 10 fantastic saves.

The Finn drew his second start in four games as the Columbus Blue Jackets coaching staff and front office deal with a tenuous situation with starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who is not signed past this year and contract negotiations have stalled. That will mean an increased workload for Korpi who showed he is clearly up for the challenge.

The Panthers scored two of their four goals on beautiful breakouts led by Aleksander Barkov who is a top five center in the game. Those goals fall on poor defensive positioning and incredible play from one of the games best players.

The other two were just poor defensive efforts that led to scoring chances all night long. Only two found the back of the net though after great saves by Korpi in the first place. The defensive effort was beyond lacking in the third period and the Jackets left Korpi out to dry. It’s impressive going back and watching the second that the Panthers only scored three goals that period.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Korpi played great last night while James Reimer let down the Panthers and that was the difference in the game.

2. Back-to-back second period dud

I can’t imagine what John Tortorella said to his team during the second intermission yesterday but I imagine it wasn’t something you’d want a child to hear. The Jackets laid another dud in the second period against the Panthers that forced them to come back, yet again, to win.

The level of play was even more lackluster than the second period of the Colorado game where the team once again lost it’s first period advantage.

The team showed no effort at any end of the ice, was lost defensively and left Korpi out to dry. The Panthers had 15 consecutive shot attempts in a row to start the second period alone. They would go on to outshoot the Jackets 11 billion to one in the second period. Approximately.

The lone bright spot was Anthony Duclair getting his first goal as a Columbus Blue Jacket late in the second period that seemed to stop the bleeding. The power play goal gave the Jackets a 3-2 lead that they lost after a gut punch of a goal by the Panthers with only nine seconds left in the game.

3. Aleksander Barkov is really, really, really good.

If you didn’t step away from that game thinking Aleksander Barkov was the best player on the ice, I don’t know what game you were watching. He was in the right place every time he was on the ice and was a pain in the side of the Jackets all night long.

Offensively the guy made an absolutely incredible pass to Evgeni Dadonov at the end of the first that couldn’t have been placed by an angel any better. And maybe Barkov is just a Finnish angel but he did that all night long.

The newly minted captain of the Panthers just turned 23-years-old at the start of September. That’s bad news for the rest of the league. Outside of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, and Auston Matthews, this Jackets team won’t face a better center all year long.