The Winnipeg Jets have lost two in a row for the first time this season as the Florida Panthers beat them 5-0 at Amerant Bank Arena. The defending champions took over in the second period scoring three times and Winnipeg allowed more than four goals for just the second time in 2024-25. It also marked the first time this season that Winnipeg had been shut out. The Jets and Panthers will face each other again in Winnipeg at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.
CHAMPS CAPITILIZE
Winnipeg had some great chances to open the scoring, but Sergei Bobrovsky shut the door on Nikolaj Ehlers a couple of times to keep the game scoreless. Florida would open the scoring at the 14:59 mark of the first period, Gustav Forsling’s shot would go off of Dylan DeMelo and then hit Mackie Samoskevich and bounce past Connor Hellebuyck. Florida added to their lead at 2:07, Hellebuyck made a routine save off a Sam Bennett backhand, but former Jet Nate Schmidt pounced on the rebound and made it 2-0. At 12:21, Evan Rodrigues also scored off a rebound opportunity beating Hellebuyck for the three-goal advantage.
JETS HAD THEIR CHANCES
The Jets quickly responded after giving up the second goal of the night, but Colin Miller’s point shot hit the post. Not long after Miller’s close call, Kyle Connor was sent in on Bobrovsky and his attempt went off the post and over the glass. Mark Scheifele also had a glorious scoring chance but had his backhand shot was shut down by Bobrovsky.
"I still think that we had some good chances, but also think that he was able to see a lot of the pucks tonight. And the same with Bucky on a goalie like Bobrovsky, you give him a clean view of the puck, they're going to stop it," said Nikolaj Ehlers.
"So, first of all, we got to get the pucks deep. We got to work their defenseman create the turnovers, like we're really good at and that's the that's the way we will then get our chances."
PANTHERS POUR IT ON
The Jets came in with the top ranked power play and had yet to give up a shorthanded goal but that all changed with just over five minutes left in the middle frame. Sam Reinhart rang a wrist shot off the post and Barkov was in the right place at the right time to put in the shorthanded goal giving Florida a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes. Former Jet Dmitry Kulikov scored his third goal of the season to round out the scoring.
