1 day Ago By George Richards, FHN Publisher, Florida Hockey Now
The Winnipeg Jets turned the tables on the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night in a game that had the feel of a heavyweight bout. A few days after getting beat down in Sunrise, the Jets got a hat trick from Mark Scheifele and ended a two-game slide with a 6-3 win over Florida. Winnipeg is 16-3-0 this season with wins in eight of its past 10 games after getting outscored 9-1 in losses to the Lightning and Panthers.
Florida has lost three of four and moves on to face Chicago on Thursday before heading back for a Thanksgiving three-game homestand. Winnipeg took a 2-0 lead into the second on a pair of quick goals at the end of the first with Kyle Connor and Scheifele scoring. After the Panthers killed off a 2-minute 5-on-3 power play early in the period, Scheifele got his second of the night on a power-play chance at 15:41 of the second.
A.J. Greer got the Panthers on the board by throwing a shot off of Adam Lowry that slipped past Connor Hellebuyck (20 saves).
Florida was back in it at 3-2 when Sam Reinhart got his 14th of the season — only a penalty from Eetu Luostarinen proved costly. Even though Scheifele’s third goal of the night to make it 4-2 at 9:56 of the third was not a power-play goal — it may as well have been. The Jets held the puck in the Florida zone for 1:46 before Scheifele got a feed on the left side of the net.
Florida made it a game once more, Tkachuk scoring on the 6-on-4 power play with Sasha Barkov blocking Hellebuyck’s vision with 3:22 remaining. The Panthers got another power play chance late, but pulling Bobrovsky did not help this time out as Winnipeg gets back-t0-back empty-net goals from Morgan Barron. Jets 1, Panthers 0 (14:13 1st): Kyle Connor throws a backhanded shot past Sergei Bobrovsky from eight feet out.
Jets 2, Panthers 0 (17:40 1st): Mark Scheifele gets his first of the night, scoring from the top of the left circle. Jets 3, Panthers 0 (15:41 2nd PP): Scheifele rockets a one-timer again from the left circle. Jets 3, Panthers 1 (17:24 2nd): A.
J. Greer snaps the shutout, throwing a shot off the skate of Adam Lowry and past Connor Hellebuyck. Jets 3, Panthers 2 (7:10 3rd PP): Sam Reinhart gets his 14th of the season, one-timing a feed from Matthew Tkachuk.
Jets 4, Panthers 2 (9:56 3rd): Scheifele cashes in on a long Winnipeg shift to all but end things. Jets 4, Panthers 3 (16:38 3rd PP): Tkachuk rifles a shot through traffic with Sasha Barkov in front to give Florida life. Jets 5, Panthers 3 (18:23 3rd SH-EN): Morgan Barron gets his first of the season, putting one into the empty net.
Jets 6, Panthers 3 (18:44 3rd SH-EN): Guess who? It’s Barron again. 1. Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg 2.
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg 3. Matthew Tkachuk, Florida This article first appeared on Florida Hockey Now and was syndicated with permission..
