Reinhart has NHL career-high 4 assists, Panthers defeat Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Sam Reinhart had an NHL career-high four assists, and Aleksander Barkov had a goal and two assists for the Florida Panthers in a 5-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Sunday.

Reinhart's four assists were one shy of the Panthers record, which is shared by Barkov (March 8, 2019) and Anton Lundell (Jan. 31, 2022).

"He's so detailed with everything he does," Verhaeghe said. "He makes awesome passes and he can score. He's a complete player. He's one of the best players on our team. You see it night in and night out. He's putting up the points right now, but even when he's not, he's really effective."

Gustav Forsling had a goal and an assist, Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk scored, and Anthony Stolarz made 17 saves for the Panthers (17-8-2), who have won three straight.

Yegor Chinakhov and Dmitri Voronkov scored, and Jet Greaves made 31 saves for the Blue Jackets (9-16-5).

"We've got to find a way to come together and win those hockey games," Columbus forward Cole Sillinger said.

Forsling gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 1:02 of the first period. Reinhart sent a backhand pass from below the goal line to Barkov, who quickly got it over to Forsling in the left circle.

"We wanted to have a good start to this (five-game) road trip, and were ready to play the right way here," Forsling said.

Chinakhov tied it 1-1 at 7:06 with a shot from the high slot. It was his third goal in two games.

Verhaeghe responded for the Panthers to make it 2-1 at 7:28 when he tipped in Reinhart's shot.

"It was a bit of a grinder," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "It was difficult, it seems, for both teams to finish some of the opportunities they had. Both goalies made some good saves.

"We were pretty darn consistent. I don't think we had a lull. We had a handful of extended offensive zone shifts. They had a couple, but it was pretty consistent."

The Blue Jackets had a chance to tie it on two power plays early in the third period, but they failed to capitalize.

"It's 2-1, chances were pretty even after the first couple periods," Sillinger said. "We find a way to get that [power play] or get a bounce and tie it 2-2 and put some pressure on them, and it changes the dynamic of the hockey game."

Instead, Barkov scored his own power-play goal to push it to 3-1 at 13:13 of the third. The goal came after the Blue Jackets had killed all but 37 seconds of a seven-minute power play after Erik Gudbranson was assessed a major and minor penalty.

The Panthers had 12 shots during the man-advantage.

"A minute at a time. That was our idea," Columbus forward Sean Kuraly said. "We know our kill's one of the best in the League (sixth at 85.9 percent). We know what we're doing. We have our structure, and we believe in it.

"You don't look at it as seven minutes, you see a minute at a time. We got six and a half minutes. … We're obviously not happy about the result, but that's what happened."

Voronkov got the Blue Jackets to within 3-2 at 16:11 with Greaves pulled for the extra skater.

However, Tkachuk (18:05) and Eetu Luostarinen (18:59) each scored into an empty net for the 5-2 final.

NOTES: Reinhart extended his point streak to five games (two goals, eight assists). … Verhaeghe has seven points (four goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak. … Gudbranson and forward Patrik Laine each returned after missing three games with an illness. Laine was minus-3 in 13:11 of ice time. … Sillinger played 15:41 in his return after missing five games with an upper-body injury.