Anton Lundell scored his first hat trick and Seth Jones added one goal and two assists to lead the Florida Panthers to a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Lundell, a sixth-year veteran, entered the night with just one goal this season. He delivered the game’s final two goals in the final seven minutes to help the Panthers pull away.
Jones extended his recent hot streak as he has produced 17 points, including 16 assists, over his past nine games.
The Jets, meanwhile, have lost eight straight games. The franchise’s record is 10, which has happened three times (2000, 1994 and 1980).
Panthers goalie Akira Schmid made 22 stops as he won his third consecutive start.
Sam Reinhart also scored for the Panthers, who have won three straight games and six of eight. Florida defeated Winnipeg for the second time in as many days and went 5-for-10 on the power play in the two games.
Kyle Connor and Morgan Barron scored for the Jets. Nico Daws, acquired last week from New Jersey, made his first start with Winnipeg and stopped 33 of 37 shots.
Florida opened the scoring on Reinhart’s power-play goal with 1:45 left in the first. Reinhart, stationed to the left of the net, took a pass from Carter Verhaeghe and had all kinds of time as no Jets approached him. Finally, Reinhart scored off the far post.
The Panthers extended their lead to 2-0 with 2:38 gone in the second. Lundell’s first shot attempt was blocked by Dylan DeMelo. However, Lundell got the puck right back on the ricochet and hit the net from the left circle. Eetu Luostarinen provided the screen in front of Daws.
With 12:03 left, Panthers coach Paul Maurice gambled and lost. After Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov was penalized for delay of game for firing the puck over the glass, Maurice challenged in the belief the puck was deflected by the Jets defender.
However, the call stood and Florida received an additional penalty for the failed challenge. That left the Jets with a 5-on-3 man advantage and Connor cashed in. He scored with six seconds left on the power play on a brilliant move that faked out Jones.
With 6:14 left in the second, Daws stopped Lundell on a short-handed breakaway. Daws also stuffed Lundell’s rebound attempt.
Winnipeg cut its deficit to 3-2 on Barron’s fourth-line goal with 11:14 left in the third. Barron won a puck battle along the right boards, charged toward the net, held off Kulikov and beat Schmid just inside the far post for his first goal of the season.
Lundell put the game away with two more goals. He tapped in a rebound with 6:27 left as Lars Eller, who hit the post earlier in the sequence, got the primary assist. Lundell added an empty-netter with 1:39 remaining to secure his first hat trick in 373 regular-season appearances.
–Field Level Media
