Florida Panthers Put Up Late Fight, Drop Home Game Against Jets

Sunrise, FL – The Florida Panthers knew they’d enter a pressure cooker on Tuesday. Nevertheless, The Panthers would drop the back end of a home-and-home against the Winnipeg Jets, coming off a 5-0 win against the Jets, who were 15-2 coming into that game. As head coach Paul Maurice likes to say, that game ended with a snarl. They also completely undressed a team that is still atop the league standings amidst one of the best starts in NHL history. So, it wasn’t surprising that Tuesday’s rematch would be tougher. 

That being said, the Panthers were the ones who controlled play in the first 15 minutes. They had seven high-danger scoring chances to Winnipeg’s zero. They controlled the neutral zone, not allowing the Jets to set anything up. Of course, as this game sometimes goes, the Panthers were rewarded with zero goals in the opening frame. 

It really feels like the Panthers have controlled this game outside of 5 minutes in the 1st

Super frustrating score. One of those nights

— Alex Krutchik (@AlexKrutchikFOF) November 20, 2024

The Jets, meanwhile, had five good minutes in the first period and cashed in on it with a goal from Kyle Connor. Winnipeg took a 3-0 lead with two goals from Mark Scheifele. The Jets center scored again in the third period for a hat trick. 

Making it interesting

The Panthers got within a goal twice in the third period. A.J. Greer got them on the board with a deflected wrist shot towards the end of the second. Sam Reinhart scored on the power play halfway through the second to make it 3-2 in favor of Winnipeg. 

However, Scheifele notched his third goal of the game a couple of minutes later to go back up 4-2.

“It was that kind of game where you never felt like you were out of it,” Maurice said. “There was an awful lot of good offense by both teams that never got to the net. I think we missed the net 26 times tonight. There were off-posts and (shots that went) wide. So even when you’re down a couple, you feel like you’re right there.”

Panthers just killed off a two-minute 5-on-3 Winnipeg power play

Good lord

— Alex Krutchik (@AlexKrutchikFOF) November 20, 2024

The Jets blocked 10 Florida shots. The Panthers hit the post four times. There was a five-minute window late in the game where it felt like Florida was going to storm back.

Maurice pulled goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky on a power play with 4:04 left to give the Panthers a 6-on-4 advantage. Matthew Tkachuk made good on the move with a wrister from above the right faceoff circle that got past goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.

When Florida went on the power play again a couple of minutes later, Maurice pulled Bobrovsky again. Only this time, the Jets forced a turnover and notched an empty-net goal to go up 5-3. Another empty-netter 20 seconds later iced the game even further.

The Panthers have lost three of their last four. But, for our soccer readers, they beat Winnipeg 8-6 in the aggregate. So, you have that going for you.