WINNIPEG — It took a long time, but Paul Maurice finally got something he was looking for in Winnipeg.
The Florida Panthers head coach watched as Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart both beat Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck in a shootout to lift his team to a 2-1 victory on Thursday.
“Every four years we like to mix in a win here,” Maurice said with a smile.
The Panthers had lost the previous three games at Canada Life Centre under Maurice, who coached the Jets from January 2014 until stepping down in December 2021 because he thought the team needed “a new voice.”
He took the Florida job the following June and is coming off back-to-back Stanley Cup victories.
When his team arrived for the latest visit, Maurice got to watch his daughter, Sydney, coach a Manitoba high school women’s hockey game on Wednesday. Her St. Mary’s Academy Flames lost 3-2 in overtime to the Vincent Massey Collegiate Trojans.
With the Panthers-Jets game a low-shot affair with not a lot of action, Maurice was told a reporter in the press box had quipped that maybe he saw more game action in his daughter’s match.
“There was more offence in that one,” Maurice said with a laugh. “Yeah, but 2-1 filthy is good for us.”
Sam Bennett scored in regulation for the Panthers (26-20-3), who are 4-2-0 in their last six games.
Lundell, who beat Hellebuyck through the five hole, was asked about his confidence in the shooting contest. He said he watched a lot of players on YouTube since he was a kid.
“I watched, actually, (Jets veteran forward) Jonathan Toews a lot,” Lundell said. “Many other guys, but I also watch a lot of shootouts and that’s something I kind of take pride in and I want to be good at them.”
There was no scoring in the first period and few shots in the second, but Bennett scored his 18th of the season with a one-timer at 18:49 on Florida’s 13th shot of the game.
Matthew Tkachuk set up Bennett’s goal, giving him his first point of the season in his second game back from adductor muscle surgery in August.
Toews was the catalyst for Winnipeg’s tying goal. The veteran stole the puck from Uvis Balinskis in Florida’s end and sent it to Cole Perfetti going to the front of the net, who used a backhand to beat Daniil Tarasov at 5:38.
“They play a hard style of play against with the high flips and the swarming,” Perfetti said. “It’s not easy to play against and it’s not necessarily the most entertaining game.
“And I think they want to lull you to sleep. I thought the first two periods we kind of got caught in that little trap game kind of thing. And then in the third, I thought we took it to them a little more. Got pucks behind the (defence) and were able to establish a little bit more pressure. It was a better third.”
Tarasov made 17 saves in Florida’s first game of a three-game road trip against Central Division opponents.
“It was kind of like a tough game. For both goalies, not a lot of action,” Tarasov said. “I was just trying to keep it simple, trying like don’t give a lot of rebounds when I got the shots.”
Hellebuyck stopped 19 shots and the Jets (20-23-7) have picked up points in seven of their last eight games (5-1-2).
Winnipeg has lost seven in a row in extra time, five in overtime and two in a shootout. The last win was Nov. 15 in a shootout against the Calgary Flames. The last victory in overtime was Oct. 28 against Minnesota.
“We had some opportunities, we had some really good looks there,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said. “Obviously, Josh (Morrissey in overtime) off the crossbar and a couple of others.”
Winnipeg shooters Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele came up empty in the shootout.
“It was a pretty tight checking game, and kind of stuck with it,” Connor said. “And, unfortunately, didn’t get the two points.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2026.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
