Daniil Tarasov made 17 saves and did not yield in the shootout and Matthew Tkachuk collected his first point of the season in the Florida Panthers 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Canadian Life Centre.
Tkachuk set up Sam Bennett for a one-timer with 1:11 left in the second period, collecting the puck by the left boards and centering to number nine, who blasted his 18th of the campaign past Connor Hellebuyck after an offensive zone faceoff.
The Jets countered 5:24 into the third when veteran Jonathan Toews dispossessed Uvis Balinskis of the puck as he rounded his own net and then found Cole Perfetti streaking to the slot. Perfetti went forehand-to-backhand to pull Tarasov to ice and easily finished the chance like it was mom’s spaghetti.
Tarasov would make a huge pad save on Mark Scheifele with 8:31 remaining in regulation to keep the tilt tied and get some help from the cross bar in overtime when Josh Morrissey took a drop pass from Toews and rang the puck off the iron.
The Panthers thrashed the Jets in the shootout. After Tarasov easily stopped Kyle Connor to start, Anton Lundell punched the puck through the wickets of Hellbuyck to end round one. Scheifele would miss high to open the second round and Sam Reinhart ended it by whipping a wrister by Hellebucyk, giving Paul Maurice his first win in Winnipeg as the Cats head coach.
Florida opened its three-game road trip on the good foot, holding the Jets to just 18 shots and a single goal. The Panthers jumped Washington, New Jersey and Philadelphia in the standings, but, unfortunanely, they didn’t make up any ground on wild card holders Buffalo and Boston, who both won last night. Up next is a weekend back-to-back aganist the Minnesota and Chicago Blackhawks, giving the Cats a good chance to cut its five-point playoff deficit.
The Five Hole
- Daniil Tarasov has won his last three starts to up his record to 7-6-2. Tarasov has given up just four goals since the calender flipped to 2026. He now sports a 2.63 goals against average.
- In addition to lighting the lamp, Sam Bennett led Florida’s forwards with 21:42 of ice time. Bennett was credited with three shots, two hits and a block.
- Evan Rodrigues finished with a game-high five shots on goal and was also collected two hits and two blocks.
- Tobias Björnfot suited up for a third-straight game and blocked two shots and had a hit in 10:53 of playing time.
- A.J. Greer dished out a team-high four hits, had two shots on goal and four penalty minutes.
Stat Card
