Laine Has Goal And Assist As Jets Beat Panthers 4-1
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SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.
Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Shawn Matthias also scored for the Jets and Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves. Bryan Little notched two assists as Winnipeg won its second straight after losing two in a row.
Greg McKegg scored for the Panthers and Roberto Luongo stopped 35 shots.
Jaromir Jagr recorded his 1,136th assist to pass Paul Coffey for sole possession of fifth place on the NHL's all-time assists list.
The Panthers have lost five of their last six and 11 of 15.
Trailing to 2-0, the Panthers Cut their deficit in half when McKegg took a shot from the right circle that beat Hellebuyck on the glove side with 1:42 left in the second. The goal was McKegg's first of the season. Jagr got his assist to pass Coffey on the goal.
The Jets restored their two-goal lead as Ehlers one-timed the puck from the left circle into the net at 2:46 of the third.
Scheifele came from behind the net and backhanded a rebound into the net with 7:55 remaining to make it 4-1.
Winnipeg took a 1-0 lead on the goal by Matthias. Paul Postma took a slap shot from the high slot and Matthias redirected it into the net at 5:00 of the second.
The Jets made it 2-0 when Panthers defenseman Michael Matheson turned the puck over in the slot. Little passed the puck to Laine low in the left circle and his wrist shot beat Luongo at 7:24 for his team-leading 21st goal of the season.
NOTES: Panthers D Keith Yandle played in his 700th NHL game. Yandle played in his 590th consecutive regular season game. ... Panthers C Seth Griffith left the game in the first period and did not return. ... Panthers D Dylan McIlrath was sent to AHL Springfield on a conditioning assignment. ... Jets D Tyler Myers has missed 25 straight games with a lower-body injury but participated in a light on-ice workout on Tuesday. ... The Jets scratched D Mark Stuart and RW Chris Thorburn.
UP NEXT
Jets: At Buffalo on Saturday.
Panthers: Host Nashville on Friday.
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