5 Takeaways: Hornqvist Helps Panthers Get Off to an Historic Start

With some help from Patric Hornqvist, the Panthers made history in Columbus.
After scoring the game-tying goal with three seconds left in regulation, Hornqvist netted the game-winning goal in the shootout to send the Panthers to their first 3-0-0 start in franchise history with a thrilling 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday night.

"This is a huge win for us," Hornqvist said. "Over the 65 minutes, we played really good hockey. When you keep doing that for a long time, you know it's going to get rewarded. We got the win in the shootout, but we'll take it. We came back and we came back strong. We did the right things all over the ice for 65 minutes. That's what it's going to take."
Despite playing a great game, the two points certainly didn't come easy for the Panthers.
Jumping out to an early lead on home ice, the Blue Jackets opened the scoring just 2:11 into the first period when Kevin Stenlund fired a shot that went off a diving defender and through goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky's five-hole to put Florida in a 1-0 hole for the first time this season.
At 9:17, the Blue Jackets managed to double their lead when Alexandre Texier floated the puck through traffic and over Bobrovsky to make it 2-0. Although Columbus was held to a mere three shots in the opening period, two of them ended up in the back of the net - talk about bad luck.
Cutting the deficit in half with a crucial goal, Carter Verhaeghe finally got the Panthers on the board at 13:11 of the first period when he fired a shot from behind the net that banked right off goaltender Joonas Korpisalo and across the goal line to bring the score to a manageable 2-1.
Not done there, Verhaeghe's big night continued in the second period when he fought through some congestion before sliding a pass to Aleksander Barkov, who then roofed a shot from the left circle past Korpisalo and into the white twine to get the game evened back up 2-2 at 3:53.
"I thought we did a lot of good things of coming back and settling the game down, still doing things right when we're down 2-0," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said.
In the third period, Cam Atkinson gave Columbus the lead again when he scored a shorthanded goal to make it 3-2 less than two minutes into the final frame. Despite having several good looks after that, the Panthers were unable to get the game-tying goal until the drama came to a head.
Pulling their goaltender in favor of the extra attacker, Aaron Ekblad waited patiently before firing a long shot toward the net that was then whacked in by Hornqvist with roughly three seconds left on the clock to make it a 3-3 game, send Florida's bench into a frenzy and force overtime.
In the extra frame, the Panthers had some good looks before a penalty suddenly put them at a 4-on-3 disadvantage. As it was all night, however, the penalty kill stood tall, capping off a perfect 6-for-6 performance with an incredibly gutsy kill to stay alive and get the game to the shootout.
With Bobrovsky stopping four of five shooters in the skills competition, Jonathan Huberdeau and Hornqvist each scored in the shootout to complete the comeback and secure an epic 4-3 victory.
"Finding a way to win is a good sign," Quenneville said. "The enthusiasm and the consistency of everyone in the game and on the bench throughout has been very noticeable. I think that's a big difference. The excitement being on the ice and on the bench during a game is very positive."
Here are five takeaways from tonight's shootout win in Columbus…

1. BANK SHOT

He called bank on this shot.
With the Panthers in desperate need of a goal, Verhaeghe trimmed the deficit in half when he followed up on a shot attempt from Anthony Duclair and quickly fired a shot from behind the net that bounced off Korpisalo's leg pads and into the net to make it 2-1 at 13:11 of the first period.

"That line has really been a factor," Quenneville said. "It creates a faster team game."
Off to a hot start in his first season with the Panthers, Verhaeghe, who joined the team on a two-year contract as a free agent during the offseason, has tallied at least one point in three straight games. As of right now, he sits second on the team in goals (4) and is tied for first in points (5).
Earning extra ice time, he's skated over 19 minutes each of the last two games.

2. BARKOV'S SNIPE

Barkov made this goal look so effortless.
Sliding down the left circle, the captain took a pass from Verhaeghe and rifled a powerful wrist shot over Korpisalo's blocker and into the cage to tie the game 2-2 at 3:53 of the second period.

"I felt like I had lots of shots," said Barkov, who had a game-high eight shots on net. "I obviously had great chances to score more. I hit the post once and just missed the passes a couple times. I could've scored more, but that was enough for the win. We battled hard and won the game."
After racking up three assists over the first two games of the season, Barkov's goal was not only his first of the campaign, but also inched him even closer to major milestone. With just one more goal, he will move into a tie with Scott Mellanby (157) for the second-most in franchise history.
As an added bonus tonight, Barkov won 61.5% of his faceoffs against the Blue Jackets.

3. PENALTY KILL ON POINT

The penalty kill was on point tonight.
It's also a big part of the reason the Panthers have two more points in the bank.
After surrendering a goal in each of the first two games of the season, the Panthers went a flawless 6-for-6 on the penalty kill in Columbus, including killing off a very dangerous double-minor penalty that spanned from the end of the first period until the start of the second period.
"The penalty kill was huge for us," Barkov said.
Leading the charge as always on the penalty kill, Noel Acciari accumulated a team-high 6:45 of shorthanded ice time. During that time, he won several key draws in the faceoff circle and had more than few blocked shots. Overall, he went 12-for-19 (63.2%) in the dot against Columbus.
"[Acciari] did a great job of faceoffs, big blocks and clears," Quenneville said.

4. HORNQVIST'S HEROICS

Hornqvist couldn't have asked for a better start to his career with the Panthers.
Before he netted the game-winning goal in the shootout, the crafty veteran did what he did best, carving out space around the blue paint and tipping in a goal to tie the game and force overtime.

Of his team-leading four goals this season, three have come through hard work just like that.
"He's been huge for us so far and he's going to be huge for us the whole season," Barkov said of Hornqvist, who is also serving as an alternate captain during home games this season. "That leadership he brings in the locker room and on the ice, scoring big goals for us, just leading the way, it helps us a lot to have a veteran guy like him out there on the ice and in the locker room."
Picked up from Pittsburgh during the offseason in a trade, Hornqvist has been nothing short of a revelation through three games with Florida. Having scored at least 17 goals in each of his last seven NHL seasons, his goals-scoring acumen has been good - if not better - than advertised.

Yet, despite having 242 career goals to his credit, tonight's shootout winner was a first.
Before he sent the Blue Jackets packing in the skills competition, he'd not only gone 0-for-6 in the shootout in his career, but also hadn't even attempted a shot since the 2014-15 campaign.
"It felt good to obviously get a chance to score in the shootout again," said Hornqvist, who is tied with Verhaeghe for the team-scoring lead with five points. "We've been working on a few moves here lately, and it felt good when I saw the puck went it. The big thing is we got two points."

5. A DOMINATING PERFORMANCE

There's no question about it, the Panthers deserved this win tonight.
Despite things coming down to the wire, they dominated the Blue Jackets in the possession battle. At 5-on-5, they held lopsided advantages in several areas, including shot attempts (44-21), shots on goals (20-12) and scoring chances (20-8), according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
Moving forward, this sort of effort looks like a recipe for success down the road.
"I think from start to finish we deserved that win tonight," Quenneville said. "We did a lot of great things. I liked the pace. I liked the purpose. [Barkov's] line is very, very strong every single night, very dangerous whenever they hit the ice. A lot of positives in that game."
For a better idea of just how much the Cats were in control, check out the graph below.
Next Up: A rematch with the Blue Jackets on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.