Connor, Jets hold off Panthers for 1st victory

WINNIPEG -- Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist, and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Florida Panthers 6-4 at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.

Mark Scheifele and Mason Appleton each had a goal and an assist, and Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves for the Jets (1-1-0) in their home opener. Josh Morrissey had two assists.

“You look at [Scheifele’s] face-offs tonight, he’s dialed right in there,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said of the center, who won 19 of 24 draws. “Gordie Howe Hat Trick, we never though we’d associate that with Mark but good for him. He’s playing hard, he’s playing with a lot of emotion, and when you do that you get involved in the game physically, which he’s been engaged [in] both games. He’s been outstanding with and without the puck.”

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and two assists, and Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (0-2-0). Matthew Tkachuk had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves.

“[Bobrovsky’s] been awesome, keeps us in the game every night and you can’t ask anything more of him,” Florida forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “I wish we could play a bit better defense in front of him and keep the shots to the outside. But we know what we’re getting back there with him, and he’s always been our backbone.”

Scheifele’s power-play goal gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 3:30 of the first period.

"Home opener, you’re back in front of your home fans, you’ve got to be a little fired up,” Scheifele said. “You're playing against a team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals last year. A lot of reasons to be excited for it. Being back in front of the fans and excited we're back playing hockey.”

Reinhart tied it 1-1 on the power play at 17:03 when he redirected a pass from Rodrigues.

“Five-on-five we chased the game a lot because we couldn’t start with the puck,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We had a real tough night in the face-off circle (27-for-68) and have to find a way to get better.”

Rodrigues gave Florida a 2-1 lead 25 seconds into the second period when he shoveled in a rebound.

“They came out ready to go, obviously their home opener, we didn’t match it,” Rodrigues said. “We had a decent pushback, but I think as a whole it wasn’t good enough.”

Connor tied it 2-2 10 seconds later when he one-timed Scheifele’s pass in the slot.

Morgan Barron put Winnipeg back in front 3-2 at 8:20 when he banged in a Rasmus Kupari pass to the crease, and Dylan DeMelo extended it to 4-2 at 9:55 with a wrist shot from above the circles.

“Kupari on Barron's goal, [Cole Perfetti] makes a great pass on [DeMelo’s] goal, a lot of great plays,” Scheifele said. “That wasn't how we wrote it up, the last five minutes, but it was a big win, big for our group."

Appleton’s short-handed goal made it 5-2 at 14:17 of the third period. After losing his stick, Jets center Adam Lowry kicked the puck ahead to himself while coming out of the defensive zone zone, and Morrissey handed his own stick to him from the bench, allowing Lowry to feed Appleton on a 2-on-1.

“Unbelievable hand-off,” Lowry said. “It was so smooth I didn’t even know it was him until we got back to the bench. … I was going to kick it down the ice and all of a sudden there is a stick in my stomach. I felt like a running back and hitting the hole. It was a super heads-up play.”

Morrissey called the play “a-spur-of-the-moment thing. You just try to get him the stick. I know he’s a lefty, so I’m trying to get him a lefty stick, even though his is quite a bit longer. I don’t know, maybe after that backhand sauce he’ll consider switching to mine.”

Verhaeghe cut it to 5-3 at 16:31, and Rodrigues pulled the Panthers within 5-4 at 17:36, both goals coming with Bobrovsky pulled for the extra attacker.

“It’s nice to know we’re not just going to roll over and give up games,” Rodrigues said. “I thought we played really well [in] Minnesota (2-0 loss on Thursday) and I thought maybe as a team we thought it was going to be easy today. I think to be successful we have to play like we did against Minnesota. I don’t think we did today.”

After Tkachuk hit the post on a short-handed breakaway at 18:23, Connor scored a power-play goal into an empty net at 18:50 for the 6-4 final.

NOTES: On Reinhart’s goal, Tkachuk got his 300th NHL assist, and Rodrigues got his 100th. … Scheifele and Connor each scored in a Jets home opener for the seventh time. They are tied for the most in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history. … Winnipeg won its sixth consecutive home opener. … The Jets are 8-4-0 in their past 12 games against the Panthers (2-0-0 last season). … Winnipeg defenseman Nate Schmidt had two shots on goal, was plus-1 and played 15:25 in his 600th NHL game. Appleton played his 200th.