The Florida Panthers defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., on Friday. Florida won both games of its home-and-home series with Winnipeg after a 5-1 victory in Winnipeg on Tuesday. The Panthers extended their winning streak to three games, improved to 8-4-2 and have won six of their last eight games.
Anton Lundell scored three goals for his first NHL hat trick. He scored at 2:38 of the second period, again at 13:33 of the third and added an empty-net goal at 18:21. The performance was the eighth multi-goal game of Lundell’s career.
“Just kept fighting and believing that at some point I’m gonna get rewarded,” Lundell said. “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.”
Jones produces three points
Sam Reinhart opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 18:15 of the first period. Seth Jones scored at 15:24 of the second period and finished with one goal and two assists. Kyle Connor and Morgan Barron scored for Winnipeg.
Jones recorded 18 points in October, the most by a Florida defenseman in a single month. He and Matthew Tkachuk became the second set of Panthers teammates to each record at least 15 assists in one month. Jones also became the fifth American-born defenseman to record at least 15 assists in October.
“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,” head coach Paul Maurice said.
Florida’s power play produced the game’s first goal. “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. Jones said much of his production has come on the power play, which he described as “pretty hot lately.”
Panthers hold off Winnipeg
Connor cut Florida’s lead to 2-1 at 9:51 of the second period during a five-on-three power play. Jones restored the Panthers’ two-goal advantage at 15:24, and Barron made it 3-2 at 8:46 of the third period. Lundell scored at 13:33 before completing his hat trick with the empty-net goal.
The Panthers led Winnipeg 20-15 in blocked shots and won 62.7% of the faceoffs. Sandis Vilmanis recorded a team-high seven hits. Maurice said the team’s strong first month reflected the importance of every player, while Lundell said Florida continues to improve in a difficult league and division.
What comes next
The Panthers will host the Detroit Red Wings at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday at 7 p.m. ET. Florida will try to extend its winning streak to four games. The game follows the Panthers’ two-game sweep of Winnipeg.
FSB Take
Lundell’s first NHL hat trick gave Florida three goals from one player in a game the Panthers used to complete the season sweep of Winnipeg. Jones’ three-point performance and 18-point October added production from the blue line. Florida now takes a three-game winning streak into Monday’s home game against Detroit.
Source: Original report