Panthers shut out Blue Jackets, gain in Atlantic

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves for the Florida Panthers in a 4-0 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

Bobrovsky has six shutouts this season, which is tied with Connor Ingram of the Arizona Coyotes and Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the most in the NHL.

“The guys work hard, and sometimes it is not easy to play those games,” Bobrovsky said. “The guys did the right things, defended very well.”

Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the Panthers (50-24-6), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games.

Florida moved within one point of the Boston Bruins, who have one game in hand, for first in the Atlantic Division. It also leads the Toronto Maple Leafs, who lost 6-5 to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, by five points.

“We did not cheat the game to try and generate points and were good defensively,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “There was not any casualness about the way we played.”

Jet Greaves made 42 saves for the Blue Jackets (26-42-12), who have lost four of five.

“They were the better team for 60 minutes, no doubt about that,” Columbus defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “We could have done a lot better tonight. We did not manage the puck through the neutral zone very well. They sort of three-quarter iced us for the whole game.”

Tkachuk gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead 47 seconds into the first period, roofing a shot blocker side from the top of the right circle.

Rodrigues made it 2-0 at 17:25 of the second period. He lost the puck on a 2-on-1, but it slid right to Anton Lundell, who passed it back toward the crease, where Rodrigues tapped it into an open net while fighting off defenseman Zach Werenski.

“I think we played the right way for the full 60,” Rodrigues said. “We did not get too cute. We made plays when they were there. I thought we controlled play in the [offensive] zone more than we had lately.”

Reinhart pushed it to 3-0 at 19:06 with his 54th goal of the season. He scored blocker side from the right face-off dot off a pass from Aleksander Barkov from below the goal line.

“That is a heavy team," Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “That is a team that can do a lot of damage in the playoffs, and there is a reason they went to the finals last year. Heavy, heavy forechecking team. That game was a fight along the walls. We didn’t win enough of the battles."

Tarasenko made it 4-0 at 17:43 of the third period, scoring with his backhand on a rebound near the right post while falling to the ice.

“We stuck with the plan for much of the game," Tarasenko said. “We knew Columbus is a good transition team, so we could not turn the puck over. We made their 'D' work. We could be better, but we were pretty good tonight.”

NOTE: Bobrovsky’s six shutouts are tied for the second-most in Panthers history. Tomas Vokoun (2009-10) and Roberto Luongo (2003-04) hold the record with seven.