SUNRISE, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov had a pair of goals as the Florida Panthers took over the top spot in the Atlantic Division with a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night.
Aaron Ekblad also scored a goal for the Panthers (20-12-4). Jonathan Huberdeau had two assists. Reilly Smith and Vincent Trocheck also added helpers.
Brandon Saad and Cam Atkinson scored for Columbus (13-22-3).
Justin Falk, Kevin Connauton, Alexander Wennberg and Ryan Murray had assists.
Roberto Luongo made 15 saves for Florida. Columbus’s Curtis McElhinney had 29 saves.
The Panthers started the day one point out of first place in the Atlantic and received help when Ottawa beat Boston 3-1 earlier in the day. The win moved Florida to 44 points, one ahead of Detroit and Montreal, who the Panthers play Tuesday at home.
Ekblad opened the scoring in the first period for Florida after Smith’s shot from the left circle rang off the post.
The second-year defenseman gathered the puck at the right circle and flipped in a shot that beat McElhinney at 4:34.
The goal was Ekblad’s ninth of the season and his fifth in his last 10 games.
Smith and Trocheck earned assists.
Barkov later won a faceoff back to Huberdeau inside the period’s final minute before Huberdeau skated below the goal line and fed a pass into the low slot. Barkov’s shot — Florida’s 19th of the period to Columbus’s one — beat McElhinney on the stick side at 19:42 to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
He added his second on a give-and-go with Huberdeau after a late Columbus line change.
Barkov one-timed Huberdeau’s pass from the slot at 7:23 of the third to easily beat McElhinney on the glove side for a 3-1 lead and his ninth goal.
With it 2-0 in the second, Sadd collected his own rebound on a shot wide of Luongo and fired in a bad-angle shot from the goal line for his 13th marker at 7:59.
The goal was Saad’s fourth in his last eight games.
Atkinson scored a power-play goal, his 11th, at 11:26 to cut it to 3-2.
NOTES: Columbus coach John Tortorella met with media Sunday afternoon and assessed his team’s play of late. “It’s very frustrating … I see weakness,” he said. “I think we’re weak mentally, and it’s not the kids. I worry about the kids getting into bad habits by watching other people. That’s frightening to me.” … Columbus scratched D Andrew Bodnarchuk and Fs Jared Boll and Nick Foligno.
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