*Photo from the Miami Herald*
It appears as if the Florida Panthers won't stop losing games. Gustav Forsling scored two goals, Jonathan Huberdeau scored two goals and added an assist, and the Panthers cruised to a 6-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night in Sunrise.
The 3 point night from Huberdeau gave him 78 assists this season, extending his NHL record for assists by a left wing in a season. He extended his Panthers single season point record by getting up to 108. It's indicative of a strong team the Panthers have, with a 10 point lead on first place in the Atlantic Division.
Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said that "I know we're in a good position. I just expect everybody's going to win. And we've got to keep winning and more importantly we were a little unhappy with our group there a little bit for some of those games, even though we came back, but I thought we tightened some things up here the last week or so. And I think that's a sign where we can try to keep building and get our complete both sides of the puck game to as high as we possibly can before the playoffs."
The Panthers got the scoring started early, with Huberdeau scoring his 29th goal of the season 2:03 into the game, assisted by Sam Bennett and Claude Giroux. Huberdeau scored again at the 4:47 mark of the first, making it 2-0 Panthers, with assists coming from Giroux and Ben Chiarot.
In the second period, the Panthers kept going, with Forsling increasing the lead to 3-0, knocking in his 7th goal of the season, coming 2:55 into the second, with Brandon Montour and Sam Reinhart assisting. Forsling scored again at the 16:22 mark of the period, making it 4-0 with assists coming from Huberdeau and Giroux.
Early on in the 3rd period, Nikolaj Ehlers got the Jets on the board, tallying his 26th goal of the season just 1:08 into the 3rd, with Paul Stastny and Neal Pionk assisting. Mason Marchment scored shortly after that, tallying his 16th of the season at the 1:54 mark of the 3rd, making it 5-1 Panthers. Maxim Mamin scored later in regulation, making it a 6-1 game.
Getting the start for the Panthers was Sergei Bobrovsky, getting the win by saving 30 of the 31 shots he faced from the Jets, posting a .968 save percentage. He picked up his 36th win of the season to improve to 36-6-3 on the season, setting a Panthers team record for wins in a season.
Bobrovsky said of setting the record that "To be honest, I didn't know about that. I just found out after the game. They gave me a puck and said that I got the record. But it's a team record. It's not me, it's all about the team. By myself I'm nothing, but as a team we're strong."
It was Connor Hellebuyck who got the start for the Jets, taking the loss in this one. Hellebuyck stopped 22 out of the 26 shots he faced from the Panthers, posting an .842 save percentage before he was pulled. Eric Comrie came out for the 3rd period, saving 15 out of the 17 shots he faced. With the loss, Hellebuyck's record dropped to 27-26-10 on the season.
Ehlers said of the loss that "That's why we're not in a playoff spot. We haven't played the right way in a lot of games. You see what that leads to. Everyone needs to be held accountable. It stinks. It just stinks. We didn't come out ready to play. Our line gets scored on the first two shifts. Straight up, that's not good enough. They're a great team and we're not good enough."
Up next, the Jets complete a back to back against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night, with Comrie in line to start. Bobrovsky will likely start for the Panthers when they face the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday afternoon.
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