RECAP: Jets 6, Panthers 4

WINNIPEG – Evan Rodrigues recorded four points (two goals, two assists) as a late push for the Florida Panthers fell short in a 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.

Trailing 5-2, Florida scored two goals within a span of 1:05 to make it 5-4 late in regulation.

“We’ve got a history of not quitting in games, even when it’s away from us,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of the never-say-die attitude of his players. “I didn’t think that was going to happen.”

Getting the crowd fired up early in their Home Opener, the Jets broke the ice when Mark Scheifele, who inked a seven-year contract extension earlier this week, split the defense on the power play and beat Sergei Bobrovsky from the slot to make it 1-0 at 3:30 of the first period.

On a power play of their own after the Jets lifted a puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty, Sam Reinhart, a master of the man advantage, set up on the right doorstep and directed a tape-to-tape pass from Rodrigues past Connor Hellebuyck to make it 1-1 at 17:03.

Taking their first lead of the season, Rodrigues sent the Panthers ahead 2-1 when he pounced on a rebound after a shot from Dmitry Kulikov and fired it into the cage just 25 seconds into the second period. But just 10 seconds later, Kyle Connor connected on a one-timer to tie it 2-2.

“It’s nice to get that one out of the way and hopefully just build on that,” Rodrigues said of netting his first goal with the Cats. “You’d like to get a win before a goal, I think.”

Carving out some prime real estate, Morgan Barron gave the Jets a 3-2 lead when he potted a rebound from right on top of the crease at 8:20. Less than two minutes later, Dylan DeMelo wired a sizzling shot past Bobrovsky into the twine to extend Winnipeg’s lead to 4-2 at 9:55.

With the Panthers on the power play and looking to get back to within striking distance late in the third period, Mason Appleton put a damper on their plans when he scored on a shorthanded odd-man rush to make it 5-2 at 14:17.

Still, the Panthers kept on pushing.

Pulling their goaltender in favor of the extra attacker, the Panthers got one of those goals back when Carter Verhaeghe cashed in on a rebound to trim the deficit to 5-3 at 16:31. Soon after, with the goal pulled again, Rodrigues tipped in a shot from Aleksander Barkov to make it 5-4.

But after Matthew Tkachuk came within inches of tying the game on a breakaway, the Jets shut down the would-be comeback when Connor cashed in on the empty net to make it 6-4 at 18:50.

The Jets improved to 1-1-0 with the win, while the Panthers now sit at 0-2-0.

“It’s nice to know we’re not going to roll over and give up in games, but I think as a whole it wasn’t good enough,” Rodrigues said of the team’s performance. “I thought we played really well against Minnesota. 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, and I don’t think we did today.”

THEY SAID IT

“We’ll deal with all the places in the game that we can get better. It won’t be a short video. There’s a bunch we can do better – our puck movement and our feet movement wasn’t great. [The Jets] played a great game.” – Maurice on areas of improvement for the Panthers

“They came out ready to go. Obviously it’s their Home Opener. We didn’t match it. We had a decent pushback, but I think as a whole it wasn’t good enough.” – Rodriges on today’s loss

“He’s so skilled. He has all the tools — really fast, can skate. He’s a really good player. He fits in perfectly with our team.” – Verhaeghe on a big game for Rodrigues

CATS STATS

- Tkachuk recorded his 300^th NHL assist.

- Rodrigues registered his 100^th NHL assist.

- Barkov led Florida’s forwards with 22:42 of ice time.

- Bobrovsky made seven high-danger saves.

- The Panthers posted 25 shot attempts on the power play, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

With two games down and one to go, the Panthers will close the book on their season-opening road trip with a tough matchup against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center at 7 p.m. ET on Monday.