Sam Bennett scored two goals to propel the Florida Panthers to a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday at Nationwide Arena.
Following a scoreless first period, Florida broke through early in the second frame. Bennett opened the scoring at 2:00 on a power-play snap shot, assisted by Anton Lundell and Seth Jones. Just over two minutes later, Lars Eller extended the lead to 2-0 with an even-strength wrist shot set up by Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad. Columbus cut the deficit to one with 19 seconds remaining in the period when Ivan Provorov scored on a backhand shot assisted by Dmitri Voronkov and Valeri Nichushkin.
The Panthers regained control in the third period. Bennett notched his second goal of the night on an even-strength wrist shot at 14:29, with assists from Ekblad and Matthew Tkachuk. Sam Reinhart secured the win with an empty-net backhand goal at 17:44, assisted by Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.
Goaltender Jacob Markstrom earned the win for Florida by stopping 37 of 38 shots. Cam Talbot took the loss for Columbus, making 24 saves on 27 shots. The Panthers converted their lone power-play opportunity, finishing 1-for-1, while the Blue Jackets went 0-for-1 on the man advantage.
The victory improved Florida's regular-season record to 10-7-2 and gave them two wins in two games against Columbus this season. The Blue Jackets dropped to 7-9-0 and have lost two straight games.
Both teams return to the ice on Thursday, November 12. Columbus hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:00 PM ET, while Florida hosts the Detroit Red Wings at 7:30 PM ET.
