"He's been great for us," Panthers forward Nick Cousins said of Lyon, who's posted a 5-3-1 record this season. "He brings so much energy to the room. I think for that game in Toronto he was probably the first star of the game. He played really well for us, kept us in the game."
After dropping the first game of their road trip to the Ottawa Senators, the Panthers responded with wins on back-to-back nights against the Maple Leafs and Canadiens. Following a 3-2 overtime win at Toronto on Wednesday, they cruised to a convincing 5-2 win at Montreal on Thursday.
With six games left to play, the Panthers (38-31-7) sit just one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins (37-28-10) for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. With one fewer game played than Florida, Pittsburgh will face off with the Boston Bruins this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET.
Leading the Panthers in goals (38), assists (63) and points (101), Matthew Tkachuk scored a hat trick and also added an assist for good measure to lead the Panthers in the win over the Canadiens. Just four points shy of setting a new career-high, he's hit 100 points in each of his last two seasons.
Second on the team in scoring, Aleksander Barkov has logged 68 points (20 goals, 48 assists).
"Every time he goes to the net, he gets rewarded," Cousins said of Tkachuk. "For a guy like myself, I can take a page out of his book and get to the net a little bit more. He's always around the net. Even on the power play, he's so hard to contain there. He's probably one of the best net-front guys in the league. We're really happy to have him. That's where you're going to score."
Having spent 10 of the last 13 games on the road, the Blue Jackets are finally back in their own barn and will pay five of their final eight games in front of their home fans. Sitting at 23-43-8 in the standings, they're 14-20-2 at home, which is a bit better than their 9-23-6 mark on the road.
Showing a lot of fight despite their record, the Blue Jackets picked up a point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins at TD Garden in their last outing on Thursday. Jack Roslovic scored the lone goal for Columbus, while Michael Hutchinson made 29 saves in net.
Missing multiple regulars due to injuries and illness, the Blue Jackets are currently without key players such as Patrik Laine (upper-body) and Erik Gudbranson (upper-body). Additionally, the team's No. 1 defenseman, Zach Werenski, underwent season-ending surgery back in November.
"That's an unbelievable effort," Columbus head coach Brad Larsen told BlueJackets.com following the loss in Boston. "We had guys dealing with some stuff. … That's an impressive game for our group. I really wanted that win for them. They deserved to win tonight."
Johnny Gaudreau leads the Blue Jackets in scoring with 69 points (19 goals, 50 assists). Boone Jenner is third in points (44), including scoring a team-high 25 goals.
Columbus also has two talented rookies to keep an eye on. Kirill Marchenko ranks fourth in the NHL among rookies in goals with 20, while Kent Johnson, who made headlines with a lacrosse-style goal last month, ranks fourth among rookies in points (38) and sixth in goals (15).
While the Panthers have the top-tier talent and the depth to dominate this matchup at 5-on-5, the Blue Jackets have shown they can make their opponents pay for taking penalties. Since Jan. 21, Columbus has been operating with the fifth-ranked power play in the NHL at 25.6%.
Facing off for the third and final time this season, the Panthers avenged an early-season loss to Columbus in November with a 4-0 win at FLA Live Arena on Dec. 13. In that win, Bobrovsky stopped all 22 shots he faced, while Tkachuk and Barkov each registered a goal and assist.
"They beat us in here, but I love the game that we played," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "We're at the point right now where the vast majority of the video we show before the game will be of us and what we want to accomplish and how we want to play the game."