SUNRISE, Fla – The Winnipeg Jets, who were looking for a bounce-back performance after a heartbreaking loss on Tuesday night in St. Louis, were back on the ice in the sunny state of Florida looking to scratch out a big road win against the Panthers who are in a dog fight for a wildcard spot in the East. The Jets had their moments but the overall effort just wasn’t there as they dropped a 4-2 decision to the Panthers. A 4-0 victory by the LA Kings now sees the Jets fall out of the last wildcard spot in the West .
Michael Hutchinson who seems to be the new number one guy between the pipes was back in the Jets goal and gave up three goals on 19 shots. His record falls to 20-9-5 on the season. This was his 35th start of the year.
“I felt good,” Hutchinson said. “I thought I made some big saves during the course of the game. They didn’t throw many easy saves at me all night. Whenever they shot, they were either shooting for a deflection or it was a good scoring chance. It was one of those games where you had to stay focused because I wasn’t seeing the puck as much.”
The Panthers who have injury troubles with goalies had veteran Dan Ellis in the pipes and he made 18 saves off 20 Jets shots to get his 2nd win of the season.
“It’s fun,” said Ellis, who was 0-5-0 in six appearances with the Panthers last season after they acquired him in a trade with the Dallas Stars. “This is a fun time of year to play hockey, whether you’re backing up or you get a chance to play the games. As a backup or in my position, I haven’t had a chance to play many games in March. Usually you’ve got a guy that’s stringing a lot of games together like Luongo or other goalies that I’ve played with, but it’s a fun time of year and our team is dialed in. We’ve played really strong and tonight was another strong game against a strong team and [it was] good to get points.”
The Jets seemed to be outworked without the puck and didn’t show much as they seem tired or all the injuries and pressure have caught up to them. They were especially outworked by the line of Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Jaromir Jagr, Barkov buried the winner with just over three minutes to play with a wicked wrist shot that beat Hutchinson high glove. Jagr and Huberdeau both finished the night with two points each and were controlling the puck and play every time they were on the ice.
Winnipeg got goals from Mark Scheifele who scored his 11th of the year on a bullet top corner; Drew Stafford potted his 13th of the season.
“I think frustrating is the word,” Stafford said. “Now is the time we need every point possible. We just need to figure out a way to turn this thing around. We’ll take what we can from this one and get ready for another tough challenge in Tampa.”
Panther goal scorers were Derek MacKenzie who scored his 5th on a beauty diving effort , Brad Boyes his 12th , Barkov his 11th and Nick Bjugstad scored his 24th into an empty net.
“They look confident,” Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said of 21-year-old Huberdeau and 19-year-old Barkov. “Jagr has had a lot to do with that. The last two months, those kids have played really well together. They took another step since Jagr got here in the trade and they feel confident and they’re going out every time. I think they have a chance to score every time they go on the ice. That’s what’s good about those kids right now.”
The Jets got some more bad news as yet another key player had to leave the game with an upper body injury newcomer Tyler Myers lost his footing and crashed into his net and had to leave the game. This was hopefully just a precautionary move holding out in the third.
The Jets travel to Tampa for a Saturday game.
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