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The last thing the Winnipeg Jets wanted to see following their four-game road trip — a slate of games that all ended in losses — was the juggernaut known as the Florida Panthers rolling into town.
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The team that’s amassed the most points so far during this 2021-22 season didn’t disappoint, and they didn’t even need much help from their big guns.
Depth scoring, something the Jets sorely lack, was on full display for the Panthers in their 5-3 win in front of restriction-limited 250 fans at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.
“Frustrated. Just inconsistent play,” said Paul Stastny, who scored in the game. “There’s parts that are good, parts that are bad. It seems like we shoot ourselves in the foot and get away from the game a little bit. It’s almost as if we’re trying to play for offence too much. We leave our d-men on an island, leave our goaltender on an island.”
Florida’s third line took it to the Jets, contributing three of their five goals on the night as Mason Marchment — Bryan’s son — scored twice and added an assist, while rookie Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist himself.
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Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett also scored for the Panthers, who won their 29th game and lead the NHL with 63 points.
Jonathan Huberdeau, who entered the day in a three-way tie for first in NHL scoring with 58 points, was held off the scoresheet.
“I think we made a lot of mistakes,” interim head coach Dave Lowry said, bemoaning the loss of Josh Morrissey just prior to puck drop after the latter entered COVID protocol.
“I’m not going to make excuses but you find out an hour before (the game) you’re going to lose your top defencemen when you’re playing one of the best teams and one of the most offensive teams and you take J-Mo out. You’re putting some guys in positions where they haven’t seen anything like this. Florida’s a team where they like that wide-open game, they like to open it up, they’ve got some finishers, and they score a lot of goals.”
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The team recalled rearguards Ville Heinola, who made his season debut, and Jonathan Kovacevic from the taxi squad.
Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for the Jets, who have collected just two points in their past five games (0-3-2) and slipped five points behind the Dallas Stars for the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
“Obviously you give up five goals, you might win once or twice this year,” Stastny said. “But you shouldn’t expect that. You score three goals you should find a way to win and that should be our mindset. It’s tough right now. Guys are frustrated.”
The first period was a see-saw, back-and-forth affair as both teams went exchanged punches.
Marchment’s first of the night was an incredible deflection in front on a Lundell pass from the half boards that went bar down behind Connor Hellebuyck at 2:09.
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Marchment, who had four goals in 54 NHL games coming into the night, nearly matched his career total in the first all by himself as two more chances were turned aside before Stastny’s ninth tied it 1-1 at 8:19.
Undrafted, Marchment would put Florida back in the lead at 12:06, taking a Sam Reinhart feed alone in the slot and wiring his wrist shot high blocker side on Hellebuyck, who started his 12th straight game and 26th in Winnipeg’s last 28 outings.
The Jets would tie the game up again just 51 seconds later as Cole Perfetti recorded his first NHL assist on Kyle Connor’s 23rd of the year. Perfetti’s vision was on full display on the goal, placing a great cross-ice feed to Connor, who deked Panthers starter Sergei Bobrovsky before tucking the backhand in at 12:57.
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Lundell would get his 10th of the year at 17:33 to send the Panthers into the first intermission with a 3-2 lead.
Perfetti would be the man setting up Winnipeg’s third equalizer of the game just 3:30 into the second.
This time on the power play, Perfetti showed great patience as Radko Gudas sprawled out to try and stop a centring pass to Dubois. Perfetti was able to manoeuvre around the Panthers defenceman before feeding Dubois for his 18th.
“I definitely think the more you play, the more you get comfortable, the more confidence you get,” Perfetti said. ‘Game by game it’s getting a little better but obviously, it’s a pretty tough league and it’s going take time to learn. I definitely feel it’s slowing down by a hair and getting a little more confidence to make some plays.
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Tuesday was Perfetti’s ninth game this season, the maximum he can play before the first year his entry-level contract to slide.
It would take an act of God to keep him out of the lineup on Thursday when the Vancouver Canucks come to town.
The 20-year-old has simply forced general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff’s hand with his solid play. Interim head coach Dave Lowry has him playing on Winnipeg’s second line (and arguably their best line) with Connor and Dubois, where he’s fit in seamlessly.
“I’m enjoying every day, learning and having a great time,” Perfetti said. “It’s a privilege to be here and it’s a dream come true, so I’m not taking it for granted. Just loving every second of it.”
Dubois’ marker would be as far as Winnipeg would get.
Verhaeghe’s game-winner came at 9:42 after he tapped in a rebound after Aaron Ekblad’s blast from the point was stopped by Hellebuyck.
Bennett’s 18th at 12:10 of the third sealed Winnipeg’s fate.
“We’ll go back and we’ll get back into it and I say this, we’ve got some young guys that don’t have a lot of NHL experience that are playing critical minutes for us,” Lowry said. “It’s all about learning. There are going to be mistakes but it’s not just the young guys. We’ve got to just clean up some of the details in our game.”
sbilleck@postmedia.com
Twitter: @scottbilleck
Road-weary Jets no match for red-hot Panthers - Winnipeg Sun
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