Columbus Blue Jackets Gear Up for Battle Against Florida Panthers at Nationwide Arena

As the Columbus Blue Jackets prepare to host the Florida Panthers at Nationwide Arena, fans are eager to see if their team can turn around recent trends. The Blue Jackets have had a challenging stretch in their past few games, and this upcoming match offers an opportunity for redemption.

In their last three outings, the Blue Jackets have shown some areas of strength as well as points that need improvement. Despite a commendable effort against the Boston Bruins where they managed to secure one point in an overtime loss with a shooting percentage of 4 percent and faceoff win rate of 54 percent, they couldn't carry that momentum into subsequent games.

Against the New York Rangers, although they started strong with two goals in the first period and a powerplay goal contributing to a shooting percentage of 7 percent, defensive lapses led to conceding five even-strength goals. Their goaltending struggled with an overall save percentage of 83 percent during this game.

The encounter with Montreal Canadiens further highlighted defensive concerns as they allowed seven even-strength goals and had an overall save percentage drop to just 75 percent. However, it's worth noting that their faceoff performance was strong at a win rate of 62 percent.

Looking ahead to facing off against the Panthers at home might provide some comfort; however, it is crucial for the goaltending to step up and for team defense to tighten up if they want better results. The powerplay unit has been relatively effective but will need more support from all lines on both ends of the ice.

Fans can catch all the action on April 1st at Nationwide Arena or tune into ESPN+ nationally or BSOH locally on channel 660 for TV coverage starting at 23:00 UTC (19:00 Eastern Time).