Jets fall in shootout to Panthers

The Winnipeg Jets sure don’t like working overtime this season.

A 2-1 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday night at Canada Life Centre marked the club’s seventh straight setback in a game decided beyond regulation.

That’s a pile of potential points left on the table — a major problem for a team sitting below the Western Conference playoff line. It’s also a puzzling development for a group that has feasted in extra time in recent years.

“At the end of the day, especially where we are in the standings, we have to end that game right there,” said an obviously frustrated Jets coach Scott Arniel.

Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart both beat Connor Hellebuyck in the shootout, while Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele came up empty on their attempts.

Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey had a golden chance to win it during three-on-three overtime — and tie former teammate Dustin Byfuglien for the franchise record in points by a defenceman — but rang his shot off the crossbar.

Sam Bennett (18:49 of the second period) and Cole Perfetti (5:24 of the third period) traded goals in regulation.

If you’re a glass-half-full type, the Jets have now picked up points in seven of their last eight games (5-1-2), trimming what was once an 11-point gap to six in the race for the final wild-card spot.

They’re slowly chipping away, but time is becoming a factor as Winnipeg hits the 50-game mark with a 20-23-7 record.

Florida arrived just as desperate. The Panthers improved to 26-20-3, leaving them five points back of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

“We’ve just got to bury, find a way,” said Connor.

“That’s a very simple team. They don’t take too many risks in their game. And, I thought we did a good job in our neutral zone, only giving them that chip in and dump in play. Not a lot of plays to be made when we’re three above them, and everybody kind of beat their man back up the ice. We did a good job of that.”

Clocking out early

Nine of Winnipeg’s 50 games so far have now been knotted up after 60 minutes of play.

The Jets are just 2-7-0. Winnipeg beat the Minnesota Wild in overtime back on Oct. 28, then downed the Calgary Flames in a shootout on Nov 15.

Ah, the good old days.

Seven straight losses have followed, with five coming in overtime and now two in a shootout.

What gives?

“Whatever. I am not sure,” said Arniel.

Perhaps the Jets haven’t adjusted the way some of their rivals are when it comes to overtime strategy?

“I think the whole league is defending a little differently,” he continued.

“If you look back, it was a track meet, it was trade chances and then somebody would get a two-on-one and they’d miss and it would go the other way, you’re not seeing that as much now. You’re seeing more of guys are staying tight and not giving a lot of space to work. I don’t think there’s the same open ice as we’ve seen previously.”

The mighty have fallen

Imagine trying to explain to a new fan of the game that the two teams that hit the ice Thursday represent the reigning Presidents Trophy winners and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.

Both appear to be shells of their recent selves.

Injuries haven’t helped, especially on the Florida side where key forwards such as Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand and defencemen Seth Jones and Dmitry Kulikov are currently sidelined. The Jets are without a trio of blue-liners in Neal Pionk, Colin Miller and Haydn Fleury.

Throw in the NHL’s compressed schedule due to the upcoming Olympic break and you get a lot of hockey these days which isn’t exactly a scintillating product.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of wide-open. You had to battle for every piece of your ice and I expected that against that team,” said Arniel.

“I liked the way, in the third period, that we got down, but at the end of the day, we poured back and put some heat on them and got (ourselves) into overtime.”

The first 40 minutes between the Jets and Panthers might just cure insomnia, with not a lot happening at either end. High-danger chances tracked by Natural Stat Trick were 5-4 in favour of the Jets — and just 1-0 in the middle frame.

Business picked up a bit in the third, including a bit of spice as Matthew Tkachuk — playing just his second game of the year — got under the skin of several Jets players with some questionable antics, including a punch to the face of Morrissey.

Tkachuk — who got his first point of the year by setting up Bennett — and Jets captain Adam Lowry then got into it early in the third, resulting in offsetting minors which freed up some ice for Winnipeg to score their only goal.

Jonathan Toews picked the pocket of Panthers defenceman Uvis Balinskis and fed Perfetti, who made a slick deke for just his fourth goal of the year.

But that was it for the Jets, who have now gone three straight games without scoring a five-on-five goal.

“I thought we played a better third period. Took it to them a little more,” said Perfetti.

“They play a hard style of play against with the high flips and the swarming. It’s not easy to play against and it’s not necessarily the most entertaining game. And I think they want to lull you to sleep. And I thought the first two periods we kind of got caught in that little trap game kind of thing.”

The wait is over

Paul Maurice won plenty of games inside Canada Life Centre as he coached the Jets for parts of nine seasons. But you have to go all the way back to December 2021 to find his last one in this building — until now.

Maurice’s Panthers had been 0-for-3 in their annual visit to Winnipeg.

“Every four years we like to mix in a win here,” he cracked following the victory.

“I thought from a defensive structure point of view both teams were kind of right on. Now I don’t know if the defence was that good, but offensively there wasn’t a whole lot to be had either way.”

We won’t have to wait long for the return engagement – Florida hosts Winnipeg next Saturday afternoon in Sunrise.

Key play

Reinhart’s shootout snipe settled this one.

Three stars

1. FLA C Sam Bennett: 1 goal

2. WPG LW Cole Perfetti: 1 goal

3. FLA G Daniil Tarasov: 17 saves

Extra! Extra!

The Jets made a trio of lineup changes from Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over St. Louis.

Hellebuyck was back in net after Eric Comrie made a spot start. He stopped 19 of 20 shots he faced in regulation and the shootout. Defenceman Elias Salomonsson returned from a two-game illness absence, replacing Isaak Phillips. And forward Cole Koepke took the spot of Gustav Nyquist.

Daniil Tarasov got the call for Florida and turned aside 17 of 18 pucks.

Winnipeg went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Florida went 0-for-1.

A crowd of 14,106 took in the game

The Jets now prepare to close out the homestand by hosting the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.

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