The Florida Panthers would fall short of pulling off a third period comeback, resulting in a 6-3 loss to the league-leading Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre as the two Stanley Cup contenders split the season series over a four-day span.
Revenge-minded Winnipeg made the most of its five first period shots, beating Sergei Bobrovsky twice to build a lead they would not relinquish.
Kyle Connor opened the scoring with 5:47 left in the frame by collecting a loose puck in the left circle after Gustav Forsling whacked it away from Mark Scheifele. The dangerous Connor then cut in on Bobrovsky and solved his glove with a rising backhand.
Scheifele would add on 3:27 later when he took a drop pass from Gabe Vilardi and sniped Bobrovsky with a wrister from the left circle as the Panthers were in the midst of a line change. Defenseman Josh Morrissey would draw the secondary assist on the play.
Scheifele notched his second of the night with 4:19 remaining in the second, snapping a cross-ice pass from Nikolaj Ehlers past Bobrovsky with former Jet Dmitry Kulikov watching from the penalty box. Once again, Morrissey was credited with the secondary assist.
A.J. Greer finally got his team on the board at 17:24. Greer covered the right point with Nate Schmidt moving in to capture the puck after Tomas Nosek sent it up the boards from below the goal line. Schmidt dropped to Greer and his low wrister deflected in off of Adam Lowry’s leg, giving his second goal with the Panthers.
Sam Reinhart would extend his point streak to 11 games and pull the Panthers within one with a power-play goal 7:10 into the third. Reinhart one-timed a shot home after Aleksander Barkov passed down low to Matthew Tkachuk and he quickly fed Reinhart in the slot. That’s nine-straight games with an assist for Barkov.
With Eetu Luostarinen off for hooking, Scheifele would complete his hat trick by burying a pretty cross-slot pass from Connor 2:36 to restore the Jets’ two-goal lead. Ehlers would join Connor with his second helper of the night.
To their credit, the Cats would not go quietly into chilly Winnipeg night.
After Niko Mikkola drew a tripping penalty on Morrissey, the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky and scored on the 6-on-4 situation. Carter Verhaeghe passed to Sam Bennett and from behind the net, he sent the puck out the other side to Tkachuk, who fired a shot from just above the right circle that eluded a screened Connor Hellebuyck with 3:22 left on the clock.
Florida would get another power-play chance, but the Jets were able to close out on a pair of shorthanded goals from Morgan Barron. Barron first goal (a crafty bank shot off the boards) was assisted by Lowry while the second was unassisted.
The Panthers did a lot right in this game, however, spotting the team with the NHL’s best record a two-goal lead after twenty minutes is not a recipe for success. Florida went 2-for-4 on the power play, won 57.4% of the game’s faceoffs and out-hit the Jets 36-20, but that good work was undone by Scheifele scoring on three of his four shots. The Cats (1-3 in their last four) will get a day off to regroup before they face the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.
Pitch & Yaw
- Sam Reinhart became the second player in franchise history to record multiple point streaks of 11 or more games, joining Pavel Bure, who did it three times. Reinhart’s career-high is 13 games. He has nine goals during his current streak.
- With the ninth hat trick of his career, First Star Mark Scheifele passed Patrik Laine for the second-most hat tricks in Winnipeg/Atlanta Thrashers franchise history. Ilya Kovalchuk, who had eleven, is the holder of the team record.
- Morgan Barron came into the game with no goals on the season and left as the second Jet/Thrasher to ever score shorthanded twice, joining Marian Hossa. Hossa had two SHGs in Atlanta’s 4-3 win over New Jersey on December 19. 2006.
- In addition to producing a goal and an assist, Matthew Tkachuk matched Evan Rodrigues with a game-high five hits.
- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 of 25 shots and was tagged with his fourth loss. Connor Hellebuyck posted his 13th win, finishing with 20 saves.