Florida Panthers Pummel Winnipeg Jets 5-0 in First Half of Home-and-Home – Hockey Writers – Winnipeg Jets

The Florida Panthers defeated 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 defending Stanley Cup champion.

Related: Panthers prepare to take on NHL-best Jets in potential Stanley Cup final preview

The Panthers opened the salvo late in the first with a back-to-back field goal. Gustav Forsling’s pass shot to center deflected off Dylan DeMelo’s leg, off Mackie Samoskevich’s body, and past Connor Hellebuyck.

The Panthers doubled their lead early in the second when Jets defensive end Nate Schmidt put in a soft rebound on Sam Bennett’s soft backhander.

SCMIDT IN FLOOR IS BACK 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NJnrTaPsve

– Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) November 17, 2024

Colin Miller and Kyle Connor both came close to breaking the lead in the minutes after Schmidt’s goal, but both found the metal behind Sergei Bobrovsky. The Panthers scored two more goals in the frame to take a 4-0 lead at two – Evan Rodrigues scored on a scramble at 12:21 and Aleksander Barkov scored shorthanded at 14:36 ​​after the Jets’ power play play is out. plan ahead for their first turn in the evening.

The Panthers tied the score early in the third as fellow former Jets d-man Dmitry Kulikov scored one on a four-for-four 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 receiving misconduct minutes. 10.

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 five goals on 32 shots.

The Panthers improved to 12-5-1 with the win and snapped a two-game losing streak. The Jets dropped to 15-3-0 and have lost two games in a row for the first time this season. They lost 9-1 in those games.

The Jets will now return to the Canada Life Center for the second half of a home-and-home that takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 19; The game is a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Winnipeg’s downtown stadium. This is the Panthers next game as well. It will be interesting to see how the Jets respond to their poor start and worst performance of the campaign.