Panthers Give Up Two Goals In 3rd, Lose In Shootout
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (The Sports Xchange) -- Center Brandon Dubinsky scored the only goal for either team in the shootout, and the Columbus Blue Jackets came back to beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Saturday in Nationwide Arena.
Defenseman Seth Jones and left winger Brandon Saad scored third-period goals to get the slow-starting Blue Jackets back into the game.
Left winger Scott Hartnell also scored for the Blue Jackets, while goaltender Joonas Korpisalo had 28 saves.
The Panthers got goals from center Aleksander Barkov, center Vincent Trocheck and right winger Logan Shaw, but had a four-game point streak (3-0-1) stopped.
Goaltender Roberto Luongo finished with 21 saves.
Despite the loss, it was a banner day for the Panthers, who lead the NHL's Atlantic Division.
Shortly after the puck dropped, the Panthers announced the acquisition of three players to bolster the roster for Florida's first Stanley Cup playoff berth in four seasons.
The Panthers acquired forward Jiri Hudler from the Calgary Flames, forward Teddy Purcell from the Edmonton Oilers and defenseman Jakub Kindl from the Detroit Red Wings.
Florida gave up nothing but draft picks: a second-round pick this summer and a fourth-round in 2018 for Hudler; a third-round pick in 2016 for Purcell; and a sixth-round pick in 2017 for Kindl.
It's unclear if any of the players will be in Florida's lineup on Sunday in St. Paul, Minn., against the Minnesota Wild.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead at 11:59 of the first period when Barkov redirected a centering pass from veteran left winger Jaromir Jagr and buried it behind Korpisalo.
Trocheck thought he had made it 2-0 earlier in the second, but the goal was disallowed when the Blue Jackets asked for a video review, and the call on the ice was overturned.
A few minutes later, he scored an irrefutable goal, sending a wrister through traffic and past Korpisalo for a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Jackets pulled to 2-1 only 36 seconds later when Hartnell scored his 20th goal of the season off a rebounding front.
At 3:07 of the third, Jones scored his first goal as a Blue Jacket - he was acquired in early January - on a fluffer shot from the top of the slot.
At 7:21, Saad gathered a loose puck in the slot and fired through traffic to give the Blue Jackets their first lead of the day.
But it didn't last long.
At 14:21, with the Panthers on the power play, Shaw was left alone in front of Korpisalo and shoveled home the rebound for his fifth goal of the season.
NOTES: The Panthers signed F Dryden Hunt to an entry-level contract, according to multiple reports. Hunt currently plays for the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League. ... Blue Jackets D Michael Paliotta was recalled from AHL Lake Erie and made his Columbus debut. He was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks last summer in the deal that brought LW Brandon Saad to the Blue Jackets. ... Blue Jackets D Jack Johnson was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He is out indefinitely.
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