SUNRISE, Fla. — Anton Lundell had a hat trick, Seth Jones capped a record-setting month with a goal and two assists, and the Florida Panthers sent the Winnipeg Jets to their eighth straight loss with a 5-2 triumph.
Jones finished October with 18 points — two goals and 16 assists — to break the record for most points by a Florida defenceman in any month. Keith Yandle had 17 points for the Panthers in March 2018.
Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida.
"I obviously don't like the ending or the score. But we talked about it last night, we came out and we battled," Jets head coach Scott Arniel said post-game.
"That one was a lot closer to how we needed to play for 60 minutes.
"But now we gotta get over the hump, find a way to keep that work ethic and that compete going and then find a way to get two points."
Kyle Connor had his team-best 11th goal for Winnipeg, which dropped both ends of a home-and-home with Florida this week and is winless in its last eight games — going 0-6-2 in that span. Morgan Barron had his first goal of the season midway through the third to get the Jets to 3-2, but Lundell's second of the night restored Florida's two-goal edge.
"It was great to get us back into the game and bring us within one, but then it kind of dissipates pretty quickly," Barron said of his goal."Not much feels good right now as we're trying to get out of this slump."
Lundell finished off the hat trick — Florida's fifth already this season — with an empty-netter with 1:39 left.
This eight-game streak is the second time in the past two seasons that Winnipeg has suffered an extended skid after dropping 11 straight in 2025-26 between Dec. 15 and Jan.
9.
The Jets eventually snapped their double-digit drought with a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings last year — a victory this season's team is hoping will come sooner rather than later.
"The feelings are similar in the sense that you try to come to the rink and enjoy yourself and go out there and have fun," Barron said. "But it's really difficult right now.
Everyone wants to play in this league and wants to win. And when we're not finding ways to come up with points, it's really frustrating.
On Friday, Akira Schmid stopped 22 shots for Florida, which remains without standout forwards Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand because of injuries. Both resumed skating this week; Marchand could be back in about three weeks and Barkov in about four, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
Florida's Bokondji Imama and Winnipeg's Tyrel Bauer brawled just 2:04 into the game, a reenactment of sorts of their still-talked-about fight in the AHL in 2024. They went at it for more than a minute Friday and — similar to what happened at the end of their fight two years ago — shared a respectful nod toward the other when it was over.
The Panthers entered Friday having played only three home games this season, the fewest in the NHL. More than half the league had logged at least seven home games going into the day.
Up next
Jets: At Carolina on Sunday.
Panthers: Host Detroit on Monday night.
— with files from Sportsnet Staff