The Florida Panthers losing streak is at three after a frustrating 2-1 defeat to the Winnipeg Jets at Amerant Bank Arena.
Eetu Luostarinen opened the scoring with 5:20 left in the first, seconds after a cross-checking penalty on Logan Stanley expired. After taking a pass from Gustav Forsling, Evan Rodrigues let go of a wrister from just above the right circle that deflected off Luostarinen and beat Eric Comrie.
Unfortunately, that’s all the struggling Cats would be able to get into the net as Comrie finished the game with 27 saves to earn Third Star honors.
Cole Perfetti would end Sergei Bobrovsky’s shutout bid 8:34 into third when he potted the rebound after the Panthers keeper denied Gabe Vilardi, who made a great move to get by Sam Bennett. Adam Lowry was credited with the second assist. Pefettti scored Winnipeg’s only goal in Florida’s 2-1 shootout win on January 22.
Mark Scheifele notched his fourth game-winner of the season with 4:14 remaining. The Jets carved up Florida’s defense with a series of passes that culminated with Gustav Nyquist setting Kyle Connor free and Connor crossing to a wide-open Scheifele, who made no mistake to bag his 27th goal.
Another costly loss as the Panthers failed to add on to Luostarinen’s early marker and fell to a struggling team that came in with a 1-18-2 record when trailing after two periods, and played its back-up goaltender. The Cats, who have lost three-straight at home, are still eight points out of playoff spot, but were jumped in the standings by the Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals.
The Five Hole
- Eetu Luostarinen was named the game’s Second Star for scoring Florida’s only goal. Luostarinen finished the contest with two shots, three hits and two blocks.
- Sergei Bobrovsky gave up less than three goals for the first time since January 10, but didn’t get the necessary goal support from his teammates and fell to 20-16-1.
- Carter Verhaeghe put a game-high seven shots on Winnpieg’s Eric Comrie. That was a season-high for Verhaeghe, who unfortunately, reamined stuck on 16 goals.
- Niko Mikkola dished out a game-high nine hits while playing 21:10.
- The Panthers out-shot the Jets 28-21, led in shot attempts 55-34 and out-hit them 30-18.
Stat Card
