Florida Panthers Beat Winnipeg Jets 5-2 as Anton Lundell Scores His First Hat Trick

Anton Lundell scored a hat trick, and Seth Jones had a goal and two assists, to help the Florida Panthers hand the Winnipeg Jets their eighth straight loss, 5-2 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Friday night, NHL.com reported. Lundell entered Friday with one goal in 13 games this season and recorded his first NHL hat trick in his 372nd game. Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (8-4-2), who won their third straight game and sixth in their past eight, beating Winnipeg for the second time this week after a 5-1 win at Winnipeg on Tuesday. Akira Schmid made 22 saves for his third straight win.

Florida took a 1-0 lead at 18:15 of the first period on Reinhart's goal, and Lundell made it 2-0 at 2:38 of the second, NHL.com reported. Kyle Connor cut it to 2-1 at 9:51 of the second on a 5-on-3 power play, Jones restored the two-goal lead with a power-play one-timer at 15:24, and Morgan Barron pulled Winnipeg within 3-2 at 8:46 of the third with his first goal of the season. Lundell made it 4-2 at 13:33 by poking in a rebound at the edge of the crease, then completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 18:21 for the 5-2 final. Nico Daws made 33 saves for the Jets (4-7-3), who are 0-6-2 in their past eight.

Jones, who had his fifth multipoint game in October, finished the month with 18 points - two goals and 16 assists - tying Keith Yandle for the most points in a month by a defenseman in Florida history, NHL.com reported. Lundell's hat trick was the Panthers' fifth this season. Florida coach Paul Maurice said of Schmid: "Akira has just gotten better and better in every game he has played for us. It was a good night."