Florida Panthers center Evan Rodrigues, left, scores during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Winnipeg Jets, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla.Lynne Sladky/The Associated Press
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots for his 45th career shutout, Aleksander Barkov had a short-handed goal and two assists, and the Florida Panthers beat the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets 5-0 on Saturday night.
Sam Reinhart had three assists for Florida, which snapped a two-game slide and became the first team to take a five-goal lead on the Jets this season. Mackie Samoskevich,Evan Rodrigues,Nate Schmidt and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for the Atlantic Division leaders.
Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck came into the night with an NHL-best 1.92 goals-against average. It rose to 2.15 after the Panthers beat him five times on 31 shots, and he took the loss for just the second time in 14 games this season.
Reinhart now has points in 10 straight games, had his fourth three-point game of the season and his first three-assist game in the regular season since he had four against Columbus on Dec. 10, 2023.
Takeaways
Jets: Despite going 0-2-0 in Florida — Winnipeg lost in Tampa Bay on Thursday — a 15-3-0 record is, by far, the best start in team history. Since hockey returned to Winnipeg in 2011, no Jets team ever had more than 11 wins through a season’s first 18 games.
Panthers: Samoskevich was back in the lineup after not playing Thursday in a loss to New Jersey and made immediate impact with the game’s opening goal — his third in his last seven games.
Key moment
Bobrovsky made a big stop on a backhander by Mark Scheifele midway through the second period to keep Florida up 2-0. Rodrigues and Barkov added goals not long afterward to blow the game open for Florida.
Key stat
The Panthers already have five short-handed goals this season (in 18 games). They had eight in the 2023-24 regular season (in 82 games).
Up next
The teams play again Tuesday in Winnipeg.
