Sam Reinhart achieved his 5th career NHL hat trick and added an assist while Mason Marchment tallied 2 goals and 4 assists as the Florida Panthers stung the Columbus Blue Jackets 8-4 Monday night at Nationwide Arena. Anton Lundell also picked up 5 assists for the Cats to add to Florida's blowout victory.
The Panthers only needed 32 seconds to open the scoring with Marchment's 7th of the seaon giving Florida a very early 1-0 lead. They would add to that total at 3:23 with Reinhart's 1st of the night and 13th of the season making it 2-0 Cats. Columbus would cut the Panther lead in half about a minute later, though, with Gustav Nyquist's 12th of the season at 4:20 to make it a 2-1 Florida lead. That wouldn't faze the Cats, though, as they would tally an additional 2 goals for a 4-goal first period courtesy of Alexsander Barkov (21) on the power play at 11:38 and Reinhart's 2nd of the night and 14th of the season at 17:54. Columbus got the last laugh though- Patrick Laine (9) scored with 8 seconds left in the period to make a 4-2 lead heading to the 1st intermission.
In the 2nd period, Reinhart completed his hat trick with goal #15 of his season at 4:27 to make it a 5-2 Florida lead. Columbus would answer back with 2 straight goals by Emil Bemstrom (2) at 5:34 and Laine's 2nd of the night for his 10th of the year at 11:45. That would be all for the Jackets, though- Florida tallied a pair of goals themselves by Owen Tippett (6) at 17:07 and MacKenize Weegar (4) at 17:22 to make it a 6-2 hockey game heading to the 3rd.
Only 1 goal was scored by either side in the 3rd period, and Florida made a copycat of how they started things off, only needing 27 seconds for their 8th goal of the night, courtesy of Marchment (8).
Team Stats:
Shots: FLA 40, CBJ 36
Hits: FLA 9, CBJ 33
PIM: FLA 6, CBJ 8
Faceoff Wins: FLA 35, CBJ 30
Up Next:
FLA: 2/1 @ NYR, 7 PM
CBJ: 2/8 @ WSH, 7 PM
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