Winnipeg won 6-4 over Florida on Saturday afternoon and have now won six straight home openers. Kyle Connor scored twice, Mason Appleton, Morgan Barron and Mark Scheifele had singles for the Jets. 11 different players had at least one point and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his first win of the season.
HIGHLIGHT REEL SHORTHANDED GOAL
With Florida on the power play in the third period, Adam Lowry stripped Matthew Tkachuk of the puck in the defensive zone but lost his stick in the process. He worked his way up the ice kicking the puck and as he passed the Jets bench, Lowry grabbed Josh Morrissey’s stick and used it to send a pass over to Mason Appleton who snuck one under Sergei Bobrovsky. The building exploded for what turned out to be the game winning goal for the Jets. The Jets captain complimented Morrissey for the heads-up play.
“Unbelievable hand off. It was so smooth; I didn’t know it was him until I got to the bench. Him and Vlady (Namestnikov) use kind of similar sticks and I was going to kick it down the ice and then kind of all of a sudden there’s a stick in my stomach,” said Lowry.
“I felt like a running back, you know, just getting it and hitting the hole. It was a super heads up play by him.”
GORDIE HOWE HAT TRICK FOR SCHEIFELE
The top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi looked good for a second straight game. The threesome combined for three goals and three assists on the day with Vilardi recording his first point as a Jet with an assist on Connor’s goal in the second period. Scheifele now has five goals and an assist in three games against the Panthers the last two seasons. The Jets centreman also played in his 12th home opener today which pushed him past Blake Wheeler for the most in franchise history. And last but not least, he completed the Gordie Howe hat trick after dropping the gloves with Matthew Tkachuk in the third period. Scheifele now has two Gordie Howe hat tricks in his career, the other one came on March 1, 2022, against Montreal.
A LOT OF POWER PLAYS
When each NHL season begins, traditionally there are a lot of power plays. The Jets and Panthers combined for 13 power plays on the afternoon with the Jets going 2-for-6 and the Panthers 1-for-7. Rick Bowness mentioned that it was unfortunate that there we so many penalties called because it disrupts the ice time (for some players) and the flow of the game.