- Anton Lundell scored his first career hat trick in a 5-2 Panthers win over the Jets
- Seth Jones had a goal and two assists while Winnipeg fell to 0-6-2 in its last eight
- Read below for Lundell’s drought, the Panthers’ hat trick pace and the Barkov and Marchand timelines
Anton Lundell waited 372 games for his first NHL hat trick.
The Florida Panthers center got it Friday night in a 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets, who are now winless in eight games at 0-6-2. Lundell had just one goal through 13 games this season before he lit up Amerant Bank Arena.
Take a look at the hat trick:
His first came at 2:38 of the second period, a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that beat Nico Daws glove side for a 2-0 lead. The second arrived after Morgan Barron pulled Winnipeg within 3-2 in the third, which restored the two-goal cushion. An empty-netter with 1:39 left finished it off.
Lundell talked about what it meant to finally break through after a slow start. The Panthers posted his answer:
Seth Jones was the other big name. He scored a power-play one-timer off a Sam Reinhart pass to make it 3-1 in the second and added two assists. That gave him 18 points in October, two goals and 16 assists, one more than Keith Yandle’s 17 in March 2018 for the most by a Florida defenseman in a single month.
Lundell’s was also the fifth hat trick by a Panthers skater since the start of October. No team had done that in a calendar month since the Blackhawks in December 1991:
Reinhart had a goal and an assist, Eetu Luostarinen added two assists, and Akira Schmid stopped 22 shots for his third straight win. Florida moved to 8-4-2 without Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand. Coach Paul Maurice said Marchand could return in about three weeks and Barkov in about four.
Winnipeg got goals from Kyle Connor, his team-best 11th, and Barron, his first of the year. Daws made 33 saves in his first start since his debut in relief following the Connor Hellebuyck trade. Hellebuyck, for his part, won his second straight in New Jersey the same night.
The Jets dropped both ends of this week’s home-and-home with Florida and were outscored 10-3 across the two games.
