The Florida Panthers pummelled the Winnipeg Jets 5-0 at Amerant Bank Arena in the first half of a home-and-home series between the NHL’s top team and the reining Stanley Cup champion.
Related: Panthers Prepare to Take on NHL-Best Jets in Potential Stanley Cup Final Preview
The Panthers fired the opening salvo late in the first on a flukey goal. Gustav Forsling’s attempted centring pass deflected off Dylan DeMelo’s leg, off Mackie Samoskevich’s upper body, and past Connor Hellebuyck.
The Panthers doubled the lead early in the second when former Jets’ defenseman Nate Schmidt deposited a juicy rebound off a soft Sam Bennett backhander.
SCHMIDT ON THE REBOUND 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NJnrTaPsve
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) November 17, 2024
Colin Miller and Kyle Connor both came close to cutting the lead in half in the minutes after Schmidt’s goal, but both found iron behind Sergei Bobrovsky. The Panthers notched two more goals in the frame to take a commanding 4-0 lead through two — Evan Rodrigues scored on a scramble at 12:21 and Aleksander Barkov scored shorthanded at 14:36 after the Jets’ power-play personnel got out of structure early into their first opportunity of the evening.
The Panthers wrapped the scoring early in the third as another former Jets d-man in Dmitry Kulikov potted one during four-on-four play on a tap-in. The game got chippy and physical in the final 10 minutes, with Mark Scheifele and Aaron Ekblad fighting and Bennett, AJ Greer, Vladislav Namestnikov, Miller, and Neal Pionk all getting 10-minute misconducts.
The Panthers went 0/3 on the power play while the Jets went 0/2.
Bobrovsky made 27 saves for his first shutout of the season and 45th of his career. Hellebuyck allowed his five goals on 32 shots.
The Panthers improved to 12-5-1 with the win and snapped a two-game losing streak. The Jets fell to 15-3-0 and have lost two games in a row for the first time this season. They were outscored 9-1 in those games.
The Jets will now head back to Canada Life Centre for the second half of the home-and-home taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 19; the game is a celebration of the downtown Winnipeg arena’s 20th anniversary. That is the Panthers’ next game as well. It will be interesting to see how the Jets respond to their first real bit of adversity and worst performance of the campaign.
