SUNRISE, Fla. – A clean sweep.
Coming out on top in both halves of their home-and-home, the Florida Panthers earned a 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday.
In their previous meeting on Tuesday, the Panthers cruised to a 5-1 win at Winnipeg.
“We knew this was an important one to carry this momentum through the last two games of the trip,” said defenseman Seth Jones, who racked up three points (1G, 2A) in the win. “The fans were great tonight. They gave us momentum and gave us a lot of energy.”
Improving to 8-4-2, the Panthers have won six of their last eight games.
“You know everybody's an important piece,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the team's strong first month of the season.
Bringing fans to their feet early in the first period, Boko Imama dropped the gloves with Jets defenseman Tyrel Bauer, with the two heavyweights trading blows for more than a minute.
Entering the night operating at nearly 40% on the power play since Oct. 12, the Panthers cashed in on their first opportunity with the man advantage, with Sam Reinhart, who was left with plenty of ice to work with, roofing a shot over Nico Daws from in tight to make it 1-0 at 18:15.
On a heater, Reinhart is now tied for first in the NHL with six goals on the power play.
“I think Jamie (Kompon) and his power-play group have done a great job really changing the foundation of what we're trying to do,” Maurice said.
Doubling the lead in the second period, Anton Lundell beat Daws with a wicked snipe from the top of the left circle to make it 2-0 at 2:38. A big day for the Lundell family, Anton’s younger brother, Kasper, scored his first-ever goal for Florida’s ECHL affiliate tonight.
After being whistled for a delay-of-game penalty, the Panthers challenged the call as the puck appeared to deflect off a Winnipeg player’s stick. But after a lengthy review, officials upheld their initial call, and the Jets were awarded two minutes of a 5-on-3 power play.
Nearly escaping the situation unscathed, the Panthers survived 1:54 on the penalty kill before Kyle Connor scored for the Jets to cut Florida’s lead down to 2-1 at 9:51.
Staying hot with the extra attacker, the Panthers got that goal back soon after when Jones took a pass from Reinhart and scored from the slot to make it 3-1 at 15:24.
Jones’ 18 points in October are the most-ever by a Florida blueliner in a single month.
“They’re just flowing right now,” Jones said of his incredible production to start the season. “So, they come and go and I don't judge my game based on based on points. I judge it based on how smart my plays are, how efficient I am breaking the puck out and that kind of comes with it. A lot of it's been power play, and that's been pretty hot lately.”
Making things interesting in the third period, Morgan Barron drove to the net and scored his first goal of the season to cut Winnipeg’s deficit to 3-2 at 8:46.
Finding the back of the net a second time, Lundell didn’t wait long before squashing the Jets’ comeback attempt, whacking the puck past Daws from in front to make it 4-2 at 13:33. Completing his first-career hat trick in the NHL, Lundell added an empty-net goal at 18:21 to lock in the 5-2 win.
“Just kept fighting and believing that at some point I'm gonna get rewarded,” Lundell said of the floodgates finally opening for him this season. “Today, it all came. First ever hat trick in the NHL. I've had some two-goal nights, but the third one has always been hard to score.”
THEY SAID IT
“I think you saw a kind of a weight off his shoulders in the celebration on that first goal. We were making fun of him here after the game, but it's nice to see him put one in. I know he's been working really hard during the games and doing his job every night.” – Seth Jones on Anton Lundell’s hat trick
“You know, we're improving all the time. We know how hard this league is, how hard the division is. Every game is huge.” – Anton Lundell on Florida’s first month of the season
“I think our power play has been great. It's kind of come up with some big goals. Been very effective. I think Schmidy [Akira Schmid] has played really, really well in that he's given us a chance every night.” – Lars Ellers on the Panthers’ three-game winning streak
“Seth Jones has been a huge, huge driver and we needed him [to be]. He’s got lots of confidence up top. He’s offensively as strong as there is in the league from the blue line.” – Paul Maurice on Seth Jones’ production
CATS STATS
- Matthew Tkachuk and Seth Jones are the second set of Panthers teammates to each register 15 or more assists in a single month.
- Seth Jones is the fifth American-born defenseman to record at least 15 assists in the month of October.
- Anton Lundell recorded the eighth multi-goal game of his career.
- The Panthers led 20-15 in blocked shots.
- The Panthers won 62.7% of their faceoffs.
- Sandis Vilmanis recorded a team-high seven hits.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Panthers will try to push their winning streak to three games when they host the Detroit Red Wings at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.
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