Panarin dependable scoring threat for struggling offense

PHILADELPHIA — When the Blue Jackets aren’t scoring, and that has been the case for much of the season, Artemi Panarin can usually be counted on to give them a boost.

Panarin scored the lone goal of the night for Columbus in a 2-1 loss to the host Flyers on Thursday.

The goal was his 17th of the season, tying him for the team lead in that department with Josh Anderson and increasing his team lead in points to 49.

Panarin’s goal came in the second period not long after he came out of the penalty box after serving a bench minor for too many skaters on the ice.

After the Jackets successfully killed off that penalty, Panarin jumped into the play at center ice, picked off a Philadelphia pass and took off toward the net before firing a shot past goalie Petr Mzarek.

Columbus took that 1-0 lead into the third before the Flyers scored twice in the first half of that period to take the lead for good.

“It was big,” said Matt Calvert, perhaps Columbus’ most feisty penalty-killer on Thursday night.

“I thought the too-many-men was questionable. … Then he comes out of the box after serving it and puts the puck in the back of the net. That’s what he does for us.

“Hopefully, he keeps doing that and a few more of us can put some pucks in the back of the net.”

The goal gave Panarin 200 NHL points in just 223 games since leaving the KHL for the 2015-16 season.

After the loss, coach John Tortorella wasn’t too keen on the idea of talking about Panarin’s 200th point.

“I’m not interested in milestones right now,” he said before walking away.

Good man-down

The Jackets’ penalty kill remains ranked as one of the worst in the NHL, although Tortorella said weeks ago he wasn’t worried about where his team’s special teams rank.

“The numbers are going to be ugly,” he said.

Tortorella just wanted to see some improvement, and his team has been better both when down a skater as well as with an additional man than in previous months.

Although the power play still struggles, the penalty kill has been pretty good.

On Thursday, the Jackets killed off the first four penalties — while firing four short-handed shots at Mzarek — before giving up the game-winning goal seconds into the fifth.

That goal came when defenseman Jack Johnson blocked a shot in front of Sergei Bobrovsky, but Nolan Patrick backhanded the loose puck through.

Before that goal, the Jackets had killed off their previous 10 penalties.

“Our kill was doing a great job until they got the one,” Johnson said. “Bobrovsky was our best penalty-killer, which a goalie has to be.”

Goalie shuffle

Backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo was sent back to AHL Cleveland on Friday so he could play for the Monsters that night.

With Cleveland not playing again for a week, Korpisalo is expected to be back behind Bobrovsky on Saturday in Columbus.

The Jackets also sent forward Markus Hannikainen to Cleveland.

Because the team needs two active goalies on its daily roster, Cleveland starter Jeff Zatkoff was recalled.

Korpisalo, 23, is 5-6-0 with a 3.15 goalsagainst average and a save-success rate of 90 percent for the Jackets this season. Korpisalo went into Friday’s AHL game 2-4-1 with the Monsters.