Florida Panthers vs. Columbus Blue Jackets: Preview, Prediction, Picks & Odds - 11/20/2022

Time: 6 p.m. ET

Venue: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH

Where to watch: BSOH, BSFL

DraftKings: Panthers -205, Blue Jackets +175

FanDuel: Panthers -225, Blue Jackets +184

BetMGM: Panthers -208, Blue Jackets +170

Caesars: Panthers -210, Blue Jackets +175

Panthers: 9-7-2 (20 points)

Blue Jackets: 6-10-1 (13 points)

Panthers: lost 5-4 (SO) vs. Flames on Saturday

Blue Jackets: lost 6-1 vs. Red Wings on Saturday

The Florida Panthers could not spoil Jonathan Huberdeau’s return to Florida. Matthew Tkachuk did not get revenge on his old team. As a result, the Panthers lost 5-4 in a shootout to the Flames on Saturday in the first matchup that featured the trade of the offseason.

But now the Panthers have to go on the road in less than 24 hours to face the Columbus Blue Jackets, with travel, after giving up four goals. Something tells me this doesn’t sound like a fun experience.

Tkachuk had a goal and an assist against his former team, and Sam Bennett had two assists but the Panthers were chasing that game for the majority of the afternoon. Fortunately they got a point out of it, but not the second.

"It felt good to get it to overtime," Tkachuk said. "It felt like we were dominating them, yet it was somehow 4-3. They came out and played solid, didn't give us much, but then we took over in the second period. It seemed like they were hanging on a little in the third, but they had some looks as well. It was back-and-forth in the third a little bit more than we would have liked."

Florida has continued to be underwhelming to start the year. Part of that has to do with going defense by committee with no Aaron Ekblad, but goaltending has yet to reach its apex. Sergei Bobrovsky, who will start after Spencer Knight made 31 saves, has to be better. Knight, too. But this is far from the Panthers team that’s ran roughshod through the league the last two years.

"This was sort of a tight, even game where I did not think one team had a long stretch of dominance," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "It was a pretty tentative start in the first, but we got going in the second. It is one of those games that, 20 years ago, would have ended in a tie, and you would have thought that was right."

The Blue Jackets are also playing a back-to-back and might have the edge in no travel, but they got lambasted by the Detroit Red Wings 6-1. Emil Bemstrom scored the lone goal, and Joonas Korpisalo valiantly made 31 saves but got torched all night.

Florida needs to start showing something here. I'm not quite sure what that has to be and how consistent it needs to be. They have been able to score goals at a good rate, but every other facet of their game has not been good. The Panthers need to pick it up here and start winning games and if they can get a win off a back-to-back against a frustrated Columbus team that might be a good start. Panthers win 4-2

Panthers are 2-7 on the road in November the last two years.

Panthers are 8-13 on the road in the first half of the year the last two years.

Over is 59-44 in Florida's games the last two seasons.

Panthers:

Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen -- Sam Bennett -- Colin White

Ryan Lomberg -- Anton Lundell -- Sam Reinhart

Nick Cousins -- Eric Staal -- Patric Hornqvist

Gustav Forsling -- Brandon Montour

Josh Mahura -- Radko Gudas

Marc Staal -- Aaron Ekblad

Sergei Bobrovsky

Blue Jackets:

Johnny Gaudreau -- Boone Jenner -- Emil Bemstrom

Yegor Chinakhov -- Cole Sillinger -- Gustav Nyquist

Liam Foudy -- Brendan Gaunce -- Kent Johnson

Eric Robinson -- Sean Kuraly -- Mathieu Olivier

Vladislav Gavrikov -- Marcus Bjork

Jake Christiansen -- Erik Gudbranson

Gavin Bayreuther -- Andrew Peeke

Daniil Tarasov

Points: Matthew Tkachuk -- 24

Goals: Carter Verhaeghe -- 11

Assists: Matthew Tkachuk -- 17

Goalie: Spencer Knight -- 5-3-1, 2.25 GAA, .923 SV%

Points: Johnny Gaudreau -- 15

Goals: Boone Jenner -- 7

Assists: Johnny Gaudreau -- 9

Goalie: Joonas Korpisalo -- 3-1-1, 3.76 GAA, .909 SV%