The Florida Panthers will take their two-game losing streak into Columbus on Tuesday night to take on the Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets are coming off a 5-2 loss of their own. The Blue Jackets have shown some promise on home ice. Six of their seven wins on the season have come on home ice. They are on a three-game winning streak at Nationwide Arena, with those wins coming against three very good teams in the Avalanche, Stars and Golden Knights. Cam Talbot is projected to get the start for the Blue Jackets. He has won his last four starts and is 5-2-0 on the season with a 2.44 GAA and .911 SVP. The Panthers have been mediocre offensively to begin the year, with most of their production coming from only a few players. If the Blue Jackets can manage to shut down the Tkachuk brothers, they should have a good chance to win this game.
The Panthers are a completely different team without their captain Aleksander Barkov, so the Blue Jackets need to take advantage of this game where he is absent. The Blue Jackets can be scrappy, and I think they are worth a shot as a home ice underdog. Give me the Blue Jackets in this one.
Panthers vs Blue Jackets prediction: Blue Jackets ML (-105) available at time of publishing. Playable to -115.
