On offense, Barkov (one goal and two assists) and Sam Reinhart (three assists) shined for Florida with three-point performances each.
Barkov’s first point of the night extended his assist streak to eight games, tying the second-longest streak in Panthers history (also accomplished by Jonathan Huberdeau in 2021-22 and Olli Jokinen in 2005-06). His second point marked his 13th shorthanded goal of his career, passing Tom Fitzgerald (12) for second-most such goals in franchise history.
Meanwhile, Reinhart’s first of three assists extended his point streak to 10 games (16 points; eight goals and eight assists), joining Carolina’s Martin Necas (12 games since Oct. 22) as the second player with a double-digit active streak. The Florida forward, who posted a 13-game scoring streak in the 2023-24 season, joined Pavel Bure (1999-00 – 2000-01) and Mike Hoffman (2018-19 – 2019-20) as the third player in franchise history with a double-digit streak in consecutive seasons.
“I really liked our energy,” Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “From the start of the game, our bench was very animated. When that happens, you can feel it in all the players, from start to finish.”
It is worth mentioning that Schmidt had played the past three seasons with the Jets. Another former Winnipeg member with Florida is Maurice. He managed the Jets for parts of nine seasons before stepping down in 2021. On Saturday he was able to pick up his first win against the Jets after an 0-3-1 record over the past two seasons.
“Finally we didn’t play terribly,” said Maurice. “In the four games we have played against them, we have not been very good. This wasn’t about Winnipeg for us; “It was about our last two games and righting the ship.”
On the other hand, the Jets (15-3-0) have already lost consecutive games after having the best start to a season in NHL history (15 wins in 16 games).
“What we did was make mistakes against the Stanley Cup champions,” Winnipeg head coach Scott Arniel said. “They are a team that had lost two games at home here against New Jersey. We knew they weren’t going to give us anything. We made mistakes, and they took advantage of them to send them to the back of the net.”
