COLUMBUS, Ohio -- John Tortorella has said the bridge to cross this season for the Columbus Blue Jackets was to expect to win. Now he's working to let his players handle the adversity that comes in late-season and playoff games.

When the Blue Jackets were scoreless and down a goal well into the second period Thursday night, Tortorella contemplated changing some lines. But he held back and his team rewarded him with a 2-1 victory over a Florida team desperate to stay in the playoff hunt.

"I probably would've made a mistake if I had changed lines," Tortorella said.

The other reward for the Blue Jackets (45-18-6) is a move into second place in the Metropolitan Division with 96 points. Columbus trails only the Washington Capitals, who reached 98 points with an overtime loss to the Nashville Predators, for supremacy in the division, the Eastern Conference and in the battle for the President's Trophy.

"When there's momentum swings in the game and it's not going your way, I'm the first one that has to watch myself and say OK, let's get through it," Tortorella said. "Because we've had the lead a lot this year, so we've got to be able to handle these situations."

The difference in the second period were goals by Zach Werenski and Josh Anderson and the killing of two power-play goals by a team that has been productive lately in that situation.

Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves, including some key stops during the power plays.

"You've got to give them credit," Panthers interim coach Tom Rowe said. "They're good at blocking shots, their coach wants them blocking shots and they're hungry enough to do that."

The Panthers (30-28-11) were fresh off breaking a five-game losing streak, but the only shot that paid off was a goal by former Blue Jacket Jonathan Marchessault, who scored his team-high 23rd goal of the season at 18:15 of the first period.

"It could have gone either way," Rowe said. "The guys worked and got a lot of good looks at their goaltender. He came up with some big saves."

The Panthers continued through the third period to find scoring opportunities, but the Blue Jackets kept grinding on defense and Bobrovsky blocked everything that got close. The loss means the Panthers are six points out of the last wild-card spot with four teams in front of them.

"They played their hearts out, and they know what's on the line," Rowe said. "I've got no problem with the effort."

Werenski, who leads rookie defenseman with 44 points, snapped off a shot from wide of the left circle to tie the score 1-1 at 15:51 of the second period.

After the Panthers killed off the Blue Jackets' second power play of the period, Columbus took a 2-1 lead at 19:21 on Anderson's 15th goal of the season.

James Reimer, who made 31 saves for the Panthers, had no one between him and Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson, who was just inside the blue line, when Johnson fired a shot that deflected off Anderson.

The Panthers almost made it a two-goal lead 45 seconds later, but Bobrovsky covered a point-blank shot by Reilly Smith.

"I just like the way they stay together, just grind it away," Tortorella said. "They made some mistakes, lost some coverages but still kept themselves involved both with the back end and our forwards. These are games that we learn from with struggles and momentum changes."

NOTES: The Blue Jackets activated C Lukas Sedlak off injured reserve, but he was scratched. Sedlak stained an oblique on Feb. 17. He has six goals and six assists in 55 games this season. ... The Blue Jackets signed Clarkson University junior C Sam Vigneault to a two-year, entry-level contract. The 21-year-old had 12 goals and 24 assists with 41 penalty minutes in 39 games this season. ... The opening goal by C Jonathan Marchessault was the Panthers' 65th in the first period this season, good for fourth in the league. ... Marchessault, who scored two goals in the Panthers' previous game, has four goals in the past three games after a four-game drought. ... The Blue Jackets honored longtime television play-by-play announcer Jeff Rimer before the game in honor of calling his 2,000th NHL game this past Saturday in Buffalo. Rimer's career spans four decades and includes stints with the Panthers and the Washington Capitals. He has been calling Blue Jackets games since 2005-06. Blue Jackets president and hall of fame broadcaster John Davidson, Rimer's high school classmate in Calgary, presented Rimer with a silver microphone.