Florida Panthers

Panthers Claw Back, Fall in Shootout

Trailing 3-0, the Panthers scored three second period goals but lost 4-3 in the end

The Florida Panthers erased a three goal deficit on Thursday but lost 4-3 in a shootout against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This was the fifth time this year that the Panthers took part in a shootout and it was the fourth time they were on the losing end. On the year, Florida is now 10-7-7 which equals 27 points. Most of those wins came during regulation as the Panthers have had a tough time when a game goes longer than scheduled.

Things looked bleak for Florida 51 seconds into the second period when the Blue Jackets added a third goal to make it 3-0. That's when the story changed and the Panthers went on a scoring barrage. In a span of less than five minutes, the Panthers scored three times to tie the game up.

Tomas Fleischmann scored the first goal for Florida, his second of the year. Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad assisted Fleischmann with the score. For Bjugstad, his activity on the day was just getting started.

Bjugstad scored the next goal a little over two minutes later. Fleischmann returned the favor with an assist. Aaron Ekblad also was credited with an assist on what was Bjugstad's ninth goal of the season.

Not feeling satisfied with just one goal, Bjugstad added one more score less than three minutes later. The tenth goal of the year for 22-year old was a power play goal and assists were picked up by Huberdeau and Erik Gudbranson.

Roberto Luongo stopped 16 of the 19 shots sent his way and also allowed the winning goal during the shootout. Before that winner scored, Luongo had saved three potential scores but that only matched the total from Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Aleksander Barkov remained out for Florida with an upper body injury.

The Panthers will welcome the Buffalo Sabres to BB&T Center on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

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