In Sunrise, the Panthers and Winnipeg Jets faced as off as two teams in dire need of two points.
In the end, the Jets skated off with a 5-4 win over the panthers in extra time.
Mark Scheifele‘s second strike of the game came in the extra session for the game-winner.
“The last two games we thought we played really well and didn’t get rewarded with the win,” Scheifele said. “You know, sometimes God just has a way of challenging you and He challenged this group tonight. It was a big win and that’s just the way the game of hockey works, and now we’ve just got to go on to the next one.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 44 saves in the Jets win.
[Hellebuyck] made some huge saves, especially in overtime,” Scheifele said. “That was a big win for the team and especially for him. Hopefully we don’t give him that much work the next game, but he was a rock for us tonight.”
The Jets improved to 37-26-3 with their third win in 10 games.
Winnipeg blew a three-goal lead from the first period, with Scheifele scoring his first of the game for a 1-0 lad.
“[Scheifele] had an outstanding game on both sides of the puck,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “Happy to see the goals go in, but it was just as important what he did at the end of the game defensively, in our zone, battling behind the net, winning that battle and getting it out. A solid, solid game from him.”
Nikolaj Ehlers pushed the lead to 2-0 for the Jets.
Matthew Tkachuk trimmed that deficit to 2-1 for the Panthers with his first of two on the night.
“If you would have told us we were getting at least a point out of it, we would have taken that at the beginning of the third [period],” Tkachuk said. “Whenever you’re in overtime, you’d like to get that extra one, but the way we were able to push and really dominate the second half of that game is something that we need to build on and figure out.”
Vladislav Namestnikov scored this first of his two on the night for a 3-1 lead to the Jets after the first period.
The Panthers fell to 33-27-7 on their first loss after three straight wins.
Despite the loss, the point pulled the Panthers to within three points of the New York Islanders for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
“We were trailing all game long,” the Panthers’ Marc Staal said. “I thought we did a good job regrouping in the second and come after it. It’s a big point. It’s tough losing in overtime, obviously, but three out of four on a tough weekend, we’ve got to take the positives because we’ve got to keep on winning. So, we’ve got a long break here, we need to regroup and get ready for the stretch.”
Sam Reinhart scored in the middle frame to push the Jets lead to 4-1, but Namestnikov cut the lead back to two, 4-2, headed to the third.
“[Namestnikov’s] a guy, he just knows where to go on the ice,” Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. “A smart player. Not the biggest guy but he goes right to the net front on that goal, and great patience.”
Staal and Tkachuk scored in the third period to get the even at 4-4, and force the extra session.
“The second half of the game they did not have an answer for us, other than their goalie kept them in it,” Tkachuk said. “And honestly, he was the one that got them to overtime, too. We were able to push it and get those few and we could’ve had a few more. Their goalie played really good.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves in the loss.
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