Panthers give up three goals in second period, comeback bid falls short in loss to Jets
When Evan Rodrigues scored his first goal of the season 25 seconds into the second period Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets, it provided the Florida Panthers with a brief since of euphoria.
After getting shut out in their season opener Thursday and having to rally from an early deficit in the first period Saturday, the Panthers had just taken their first lead of the young season.
It didn’t last long.
The Jets tied the game 10 seconds later and scored three goals the second period overall on their way to beating the Panthers 6-4 at Canada Life Centre.
Florida was down three goals with just under six minutes left but scored a pair of goals from Carter Verhaeghe and Rodrigues within 65 seconds of each other with an extra skater on the ice to get their deficit to just one goal with 2:24 left to play. Matthew Tkachuk had a shorthanded breakaway with about a minute-and-a-half left but hit the post before the Jets sealed the game with an empty net goal with 1:10 left to play.
“We were just pressing and playing a little desperate,” Verhaeghe told reporters in Winnipeg postgame about their third-period push. “I think that’s kind of how we have to play all game when the game’s on the line. We wanted to come back and we made a little bit of a push, but it wasn’t enough. Kind of want to play like that all game: Desperate.”
The Panthers are 0-2-0 to start a season for the first time since the 2010-11 season when they dropped their first two games against the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks in regulation.
Florida lost 2-0 in its season opener against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
After the Panthers took the brief 2-1 lead, Winnipeg (1-1-0) tied the game on the very next shift when Kyle Connor fired a one-timer from the slot past Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game at 2-2.
Morgan Barron then gave Winnipeg the lead for good with 11:40 left in the second period on a wrist shot after rebounding a Rasmus Kupari shot attempt. The Jets got a third goal 90 seconds later on a Dylan DeMelo wrister from the point that beat Bobrovsky.
Mason Appleton added shorthanded goal for Winnipeg with 5:43 left in regulation to put the Jets up 5-2 before Florida’s comeback bid fell short.
The Jets and Panthers each scored a goal on the power play in the first period, with Mark Scheifele opening scoring 3:30 into the game and Sam Reinhart tying the game at 1-1 with about three minutes left in the opening frame.
Milestone moments
▪ Rodrigues, who signed a four-year, $12 million deal this offseason, logged his first point with the Panthers and the 100th assist overall in his NHL career with the primary assist on Reinhart’s power-play goal in the first period. Tkachuk also recorded his 300th career assist on that play.
Rodrigues had four points total — two goals and two assists — on Saturday.
▪ Paul Maurice on Saturday coached his 1,768th career NHL game, tying Joel Queneville for the third-most in NHL history. He trails only Scotty Bowman (2,141 over 30 seasons) and Barry Trotz (1,812 over 23 seasons). Maurice is two games into his 26th NHL season as a head coach.
Up next
The Panthers close out their three-game road trip to begin the season on Monday against the New Jersey Devils, with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
After that, Florida will have a four-game homestand at Amerant Bank Arena starting Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This story was originally published October 14, 2023 at 6:52 PM.
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