Columbus started off at a high pace, which Florida equally matched coming out of the gates. The Blue Jackets’ pressure, though, was a little too much to handle, as the Panthers were finding it rather difficult to complete zone exits.
Nick Foligno pounced on a rebound that squirted out after Sergei Bobrovsky made the initial save, with Foligno’s follow-up trickling past Bobrovsky but just wide of the frame.
Florida had a chance of their own to open up the scoring after an odd-man rush broke out the other way, with Frank Vatrano ringing a shot off the goal post.