Blue Jackets 'embarrassed' by relentless Florida Panthers in 9-2 loss

The chants began after the fifth goal.

Jonathan Huberdeau pushed the puck into the Blue Jackets’ net to put the Florida Panthers up 5-0 on Saturday night at FLA Live Arena and the home fans started calling for five more before the final horn.

"We want 10!" they shouted. "We want 10! We want 10! ..."

The game was only 22 minutes and two seconds old at that point.

The Panthers had almost 40 minutes left to deliver and almost did in a 9-2 romp just two days after the Blue Jackets pulled off a 6-0 shocker against the high-powered Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh.

“We should be embarrassed ... period,” said Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen, who’d earlier praised his team’s effort against the Hurricanes. “There’s nothing more to say about it. I mean, to go from a game where we played a pretty solid game, a full 60 (minutes), high compete level ..."

He paused.

"Saw some guys giving in tonight," Larsen lamented.

An increase in the Jackets' intensity also became apparent in the final 9:46, after the Panthers went up 9-1 on a goal by Ryan Lomberg. They began to hunt for a 10th to please their fans and the Jackets set out to prevent it, beginning with captain Boone Jenner scoring the game's final goal 36 seconds later against former teammate Sergei Bobrovsky.

The Blue Jackets (17-18-1) avoided the humiliation of seeing a 10 on the scoreboard, but couldn't mute the sound of fans calling for it. They've endured some tough losses the past couple seasons, but nothing even remotely comparable to that ringing in their ears.

“I’d say it’s probably the most embarrassing one,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “I think when their crowd starts chanting, ‘We want 10,’ and they’re one away, I don’t know if there’s a more embarrassing feeling in hockey to be honest with you.”

It doesn’t get much tougher to swallow, but the Jackets are not alone in licking wounds caused by the Panthers (26-7-5) — a team tied atop the NHL with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, whom they destroyed 9-3 a couple weeks earlier.

“It’s the best hockey team in the league, I’d say, just with how fast they are, how well they play structurally,” Werenski said. “I think it’s probably a mix of both, how good they are and us kind of shooting ourselves in the foot. But it’s one thing to lose hockey games … it’s another thing to lose in the fashion we did today.”

Blue Jackets not upset with Florida Panthers’ late push

Once the Panthers went up 6-0 in the second, it became clear they wouldn’t take their foot off the gas pedal.

As expected, they continued to swarm the Blue Jackets in the third. Florida pinned the puck into the Columbus end, created scoring chances by the bushel against besieged goalie Joonas Korpisalo — who replaced starter Elvis Merzlikins with 6:32 left in the first — and scored three more goals to make the smattering of fans left in the building delirious with anticipation.

At that point, a 10th goal felt like a formality.

The Blue Jackets didn't cave all the way in, though, preventing it by finally making a stand. They needed desperation, too, because Panthers coach Andrew Brunette didn't exactly call off the dogs.

He switched up a couple lines and defense pairings, but continued to run members of his top two lines and pairings onto ice for multiple shifts in the final six minutes. Jonathan Huberdeau, whose 53 points after a goal and assist in this game is tied for second among all NHL scorers, was one of them.

He put one shot on net and attempted two others in the final 3:09, while Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad and others joined him in the hunt for 10.

Some teams might’ve taken exception to it, starting scrums or even a brawl. The Blue Jackets, outshot by a whopping 51-30, just took their medicine.

“You can’t take offense to it,” Werenski said. “They’re just playing hockey. I mean, as a team we should be embarrassed by it, the fact that they’re even in that position to try and score a 10th goal. In terms of them and the personnel they’re putting on the ice … I don’t blame them, to be honest. They were feeding it to us all night. It’s our own fault we’re in that position, so I guess you can’t really take offense to it.”

Larsen agreed.

“Why would they stop playing?” he said. “They played the full 60 (minutes). They’re doing what they’re supposed to do. They’re trying to play the game. It’s our job to stop them. It’s not their job to stop playing and not ring up 10. No, I’m not mad at them.”

Blue Jackets focus anger inward

Larsen’s anger was reserved solely for his team, which didn’t look anything like the group he’d watched two nights before in Raleigh.

That bunch played inspired hockey from start to finish, winning puck battles against one of the NHL’s top teams and blowing the game open in the third period with three goals in 67 seconds. This collection of Blue Jackets, bearing mostly the same nameplates on their backs, played nothing like they had against the Hurricanes.

They were dominated in puck battles, coughed up turnovers in bunches and basically disappeared after the Panthers went up 3-0 in the first 9:27 on goals by Verhaeghe, Anthony Duclair and MacKenzie Weegar.

Larsen, Werenski and forward Gustav Nyquist all said the Blue Jackets should be “embarrassed” as a team.

“We talked plenty about it,” Larsen said, referring to a 7-0-1 surge by the Panthers coming into the game. “I don’t think there was any surprise with how they came (out). What’s disappointing is how we reacted. That’s the biggest disappointment.”

He didn't let anybody off the hook, including both goaltenders.

“We were all part of this," Larsen said. "This was … nobody gets out of this one.”

Nyquist, who takes all losses hard, was just as blunt.

“We just got spanked,” he muttered. “It’s embarrassing."

Asked if he felt that any of his teammates quit during the onslaught, he contorted his head before answering.

"I just think we played a horrendous game," he said.

Perspective on Florida Panthers’ rout

What the Panthers have done since the NHL’s extended holiday break in December is stunning.

They were already one of the odds-on favorites to compete for the Stanley Cup, but the past two weeks have made them a favorite to win it. During their past nine games, they’re now 8-0-1 and have scored a jaw-dropping 54 goals for an average of 6.75 per game. Anything approaching or surpassing four per game is considered outstanding.

Averaging almost three goals above that mark, even for two weeks, is almost uncharted territory. They’re not doing it against tomato cans, either.

The Blue Jackets have scuffled since Thanksgiving, plummeting down the standings, but the Panthers also own blowout victories in this stretch over the Lightning (26-9-5), Calgary Flames (17-11-6), and Dallas Stars (18-15-2).

They crushed those three teams by a combined margin of 22-6 and the lone defeat was a shootout loss in Dallas that headed to overtime tied 5-5.

“It’s the best team we’ve faced, there’s no question,” Larsen said. “We’ve only faced them once. From what I’ve seen and who we’ve played … that’s the best game someone’s played against us. They’re at the top of the league for a reason. They’re a fast, hard-nosed team. They smell blood. They attacked the game, they defended hard. What do you say? They completely dominated us. Period. There’s nothing more to say.”

Blowout loss not the worst in Blue Jackets history

The final score ranks high on the Blue Jackets’ all-time lists for goals allowed and margin of loss. The good news, if you can call it that, is that it wasn't a record-setting performance.

The most goals the Jackets have allowed was in a 10-2 loss Mar. 30, 2002 in San Jose, which also tied a franchise record set that season for largest margin of defeat — eight goals.

They’ve lost by eight goal three times in their 21-season existence, but goals by Nyquist and Jenner prevented a fourth occurrence.

Blue Jackets forward Alexandre Texier struggled replacing Cole Sillinger at center

The Jackets lost another key player to COVID-19 protocols Saturday when rookie center Cole Sillinger tested positive.

That created a hole down the middle of the their lineup that Alexandre Texier was asked to fill. Singling out Texier’s minus-5 plus/minus rating and 3 for 9 showing on faceoffs isn't fair on a night the whole team struggled, but it’s worth noting that it happened while playing center — a position he's struggled mightily with in the NHL.

Texier flopped as the Jackets' top center to start the season and was eventually demoted to the right wing on a line centered by Sean Kuraly. He has since become one of the Jackets’ most important forwards, but it didn't happen until he was freed up by playing on the wing with Kuraly and speedy Eric Robinson.

That's where Texier’s biggest impact has been since arriving in 2019 after two seasons playing center in Finland. Skating on the wing, he has the puck more, wins more battles along the walls and gets more involved in plays that lead to scoring chances.

Most of that is missing when he plays in the middle, but it should be noted that Florida is loaded with high-end centers and Texier hadn't played there since early in the season. He logged finished with two shots and logged 12:49 in ice time.

Liam Foudy, the 18th overall pick in 2018, replaced Texier on the wing in his season debut. He played 11:51 and finished with one shot, one hit and a minus-1 rating.

Former Blue Jackets rout former team as Florida Panthers

Alexander Wennberg left Florida as a free agent last July, but the Panthers still have a strong tie to the Blue Jackets.

It starts with general manager Bill Zito, a former assistant GM for the Jackets before getting his own GM spot in 2020, and Florida also has three former Columbus players.

Defenseman Markus Nutivaara is injured, but Duclair and Bobrovsky contributed to their former team’s undoing. Duclair had a goal and assist, including a power-play goal 2:07 into the game. Bobrovsky earned the goaltending win with 28 saves.

Bobrovsky left Columbus after a turbulent final campaign in 2018-19 and Duclair was traded to the Ottawa Senators that season for Ryan Dzingel — who was acquired at the trade deadline and not re-signed.

Duclair flourished with Ottawa after the trade, but signed with the Panthers as a free agent last year. He's now one of Florida’s top goal-scoring forwards. Bobrovsky has returned to Vezina Trophy form in his third season with the Panthers, improving to 19-3-3 with a 2.47 goals-against average and .921 save percentage.

“It’s so much fun to play (here) and to be in the building and have that Panthers jersey on your chest.,” Bobrovsky said during his postgame interview. “The fans are great. They support us and we try to play our best for them.”

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 'embarrassed' by blowout loss to Florida Panthers