Carter Verhaeghe scored two power-play goals and Matthew Tkachuk had four assists to lead the visiting Florida Panthers to a 5-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.
Brady Tkachuk contributed a goal and two assists, Niko Mikkola had a goal and an assist and Sam Reinhart also scored for the Panthers, who were 3-for-5 with the man advantage and won their second straight. Defenseman Seth Jones collected three assists and Akira Schmid made 24 saves.
Adam Lowry got the goal for the Jets, who lost their sixth in a row (0-4-2). Clay Stevenson stopped 19 shots.
Florida took a 3-0 lead in the first period.
The Panthers scored twice in 1:15 to go up 2-0, connecting on two of their first four shots. Verhaeghe’s first power-play goal at 7:27 opened the scoring. He stepped from below the goal line to the left of the net and put in a backhand shot. And at 8:42, Mikkola’s shot from the left circle went in off the stick of Winnipeg defenseman Mario Ferraro.
Verhaeghe got his second power-play goal with 9:42 left in the first on a one-timer from the high slot.
Lowry’s short-handed goal with 7:33 left in the second period made it 3-1. After a giveaway to Lowry by Schmid at the left side of the net, Lowry quickly went behind the net for a wrap-around and barely got the puck over the goal line past the stick of the diving Schmid. The play continued for a few seconds, as if Schmid made the save, but the horn blew that signals that league officials watching the game from Toronto ruled the puck went in after immediately reviewing the play.
But Florida restored the three-goal lead 47 seconds later on Reinhart’s power-play goal, a one-time shot from the slot.
Brady Tkachuk tipped in a pass from his brother Matthew Tkachuk with 7:50 remaining.
The teams play again with the Panthers hosting in Sunshine, Fla., on Friday. It will be the second of back-to-back games for the Jets, who visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
–Field Level Media
