Blue Jackets start road swing at Florida to take on the Panthers

This Saturday there are eleven games on the NHL card. The Columbus Blue Jackets will visit BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida to taken on the Panthers. It will be a special game for goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky, who will meet his old teammates from the Blue Jackets for the first time since he left Columbus last summer.

Level of Bobrovsky is concerning

The Florida Panthers are eager to reach the play offs this season, because the Florida hockey team missed the Stanley Cup-play offs for the past three seasons. The Panthers have so far been able to surprise with a third place in the Atlantic Division and are able to leave the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs behind them for the time being. A guaranteed ticket for the Stanley Cup play offs doesn't seem entirely realistic at the end of the regular season, but a wildcard ticket should definitely be within their reach.

Goalkeeper and star player Sergei Bobrovsky came over from the Columbus Blue Jackets during the off season and because of this, the Panthers seemed to become a team to take seriously. In recent years, the goalies have proved to be the big Achilles heel of the Panthers and Bobrovsky is a double winner of the Vezina Trophy, the prize awarded to the best goalkeeper of the regular season. The Russian is highly paid, but is underperforming in a big way during his first two months as a panther.

Blue Jackets dominated the Rangers in a loss

The Columbus Blue Jackets were still adapting in the first weeks of the new season. The hockey team lost two key players with Sergei Bovrovsky (Florida Panthers) and Artemi Panarin (New York Rangers) and it was only logical that the Blue Jackets started with a 5-5-2 in October. Columbus will soon need to get on a little win streak, as they are already thirteen points behind the the third place in the Metro Division.

The Columbus Blue Jackets lost their last three games. Especially on Thursday night, they deserved more than they got during a 3-2 defeat in their own barn against the New York Rangers. The Blue Jackets outshot the Rangers 47-19 and even couldn't notch the win. Columbus averages 2.5 goals per game, only three teams have a worse average than them. Pierre Dubois leads the team with only eighteen points (ten goals, eight assists).

Columbus will find ways past Bobrovsky

The Blue Jackets are anything but an attacking force this season, but should be able to find the net several times against the Florida Panthers. The Panthers have an goals-against average of 3.33 per game, only the Detroit Red Wings and the New Jersey Devils average more goals per game. Goalie Bobrovsky is having a difficult time playing to his normal level, but because of $70M contract he doesn't have to be afraid to lose his status as first goalkeeper. There is a chance that he will reach his normal level against his old team tonight, but there is nothing to indicate this for the time being. The Blue Jackets always work very hard, it's time for them to get the results that go with it.