Winnipeg Jets fall to Panthers 2-1 in a shootout

The Winnipeg Jets are at a point in the standings where they need as many wins as they can get to stay afloat in the wild card race.

They’re certainly a bit of a long shot as it is, and it didn’t help their cause that they only picked up a single point Thursday night in a 2-1 shootout loss at home against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

It was a tight checking, scoreless game for the first 38 minutes. But after the Panthers took the lead late in the second period, the game opened up enough for the Jets to tie it five minutes into the third before missing on both chances in the shootout.

“I think both teams played hard, played heavy,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We had the chances at 11-10. It was 6-6 after two periods. There wasn’t a whole lot of wide-open offence. You had to battle for every kinda piece of your ice and expected that against that team. And I liked the way in the third period we got down, but at the end of the day we poured back and put some heat on them and get ourselves into overtime.”

It was the third game in four days for the Jets, while the Panthers hadn’t played since Monday.

The Jets now have at least a point in their last six straight home games and in seven out of eight overall.

Former Jets head coach Paul Maurice won for the first time in Winnipeg as a member of the visitors after losing in his first three trips back.

Cole Perfetti scored the Jets only goal for his first marker in the last nine games.

“I thought we played a better third period,” Perfetti said. “Took it to them a little more. They play a hard style to play against with the high flips and the swarming. It’s not easy to play against and it’s not necessarily the most entertaining game. And I think they want to lull you to sleep, and I thought for the first two periods we kinda got caught in that little trap game kinda thing.

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“And then in the third, I thought we took it to them a little more, got pucks behind their ‘D’ and was able to establish a little bit more pressure.”

Winnipeg has lost their last seven games that have gone to overtime and haven’t won in OT since way back on Oct. 28.

The Jets have also now gone three straight games without scoring a goal at 5-on-5.

“These are tight games,” said Arniel. “That’s not a club that’s gonna hand you any freebees. I thought we had some great looks though. Again, traffic, bodies, I’ve said before, at this time of year it’s those greasy goals and we got to get back to scoring a few of those.”

Mark Scheifele got the first great chance of the night after a turnover in the Florida zone. He collected the loose puck and skated in alone on Daniil Tarasov but whiffed on a shot attempt.

Not long after, A.J. Greer got free for a partial breakaway on Connor Hellebuyck but the Winnipeg netminder turned him aside.

The Jets got the game’s first power play with 6:12 to go in the first when Evan Rodrigues was called for tripping but just 40 seconds later, Alex Iafallo was called for hooking to nullify the opportunity.

Neither team found the back of the net in the first with Florida outshooting the Jets 6-5.

The Jets had a slight edge in chances and zone time during a mostly uneventful second period before Florida gave Winnipeg its second power play chance of the night with 5:28 on the clock.

But the Jets never really got set up and failed to register a shot during the two-minute minor.

Florida finally broke the ice with 1:11 to go in the second. After the Jets iced the puck, the Panthers got the puck off a scramble draw with Matthew Tkachuk gaining control before finding Sam Bennett in the slot. He fired a one-timer that beat Hellebuyck high over his left shoulder for his 18th of the season.

The Panthers outshot the Jets 7-5 in the second for a two-period edge of 13-10.

The teams played some 4-on-4 hockey early in the third with Tkachuk in the box for roughing and Adam Lowry off for interference, and right before they were about to return to the ice, the Jets leveled the score.

Jonathan Toews made an awesome play to pickpocket Uvis Balinskis before sliding the puck to a wide open Perfetti in front of the net. He tucked it past Tarasov, who had no chance on the play, to make it 1-1 with his fourth goal of the season.

Winnipeg had a couple good chances to take the lead with just over eight minutes left but Kyle Connor whiffed on a rebound in the slot moments before Scheifele had an open net but couldn’t get much on a backhand, allowing Tarasov to stick out the pad to take the chance away.

The Jets outshot the Panthers 7-4 in the third, but the score remained tied 1-1 at the end of regulation.

Both teams had some good looks in OT with Josh Morrissey getting the best chance as he ripped a shot off the crossbar from the high slot.

Aaron Ekblad was also denied in close by Hellebuyck but neither team found the back of the net, so a shootout was required.

Connor was first to shoot for Winnipeg but was denied while Anton Lundell beat Hellebuyck five-hole on Florida’s first attempt.

Up next for the Jets was Scheifele, who tried to beat Tarasov high over the glove but missed the net.

That meant Sam Reinhart could win it for Florida and he did, ripping a shot past Hellebuyck to end the game before handful of plastic rats were thrown onto the ice by some Panthers fans in attendance.

Florida finished the game with a 20-18 edge in shots, meaning that Hellebuyck stopped 19 shots in the loss.

Winnipeg will wrap up this three-game homestand Saturday evening against Detroit. The puck will drop shortly after 6 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB beginning at 4 p.m.

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