Tarasov helps Panthers edge Jets in shootout

WINNIPEG -- Daniil Tarasov made 17 saves and stopped both of the attempts he faced in the shootout for the Florida Panthers, who defeated the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 at Canada Life Centre on Thursday.

“It's a huge [road win], especially after the tough nights at home,” Tarasov said. “It's a huge win and we're starting this road trip the right way. It kind of boosts our confidence for the rest of this trip.

“It was kind of a tough game for both goalies, not a lot of action. The guys battled a lot. For my side, I was just trying to keep it simple, trying (not to) give a lot of rebounds.”

Sam Bennett scored in regulation for the Panthers (26-20-3), who were coming off a 4-1 loss at home to the San Jose Sharks on Monday but have won four of six. Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart scored in the shootout.

“Now, I don't know if the defense was that good, but offensively there wasn't a whole lot to be had either way,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I'll speak for our team, we’d like to move the puck quite a bit better than we moved it tonight. But on the road -- and we've had three of our last five we were really happy with, two we were just really distraught with. So, a little bit of normalcy and a game where not a lot happened, we'll take. Daniil Tarasov, that's the mark. Can you make the one save, right? The save he made back door (on Mark Scheifele in the third period), just an incredible save, and then great in the shootout.”

Cole Perfetti scored for the Jets (20-23-7), who have lost three of four (1-1-2). Connor Hellebuyck made 19 saves.

“Both teams played hard and played heavy,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “At the end of the day, we had the (scoring) chances at 11-10 and it was 6-6 after two periods. There wasn’t a whole lot of wide open. You had to battle for every piece of your ice, and we expected that against that team. I liked the way in the third period ... we poured back and put some heat on them and got (ourselves) into overtime."

Bennett gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 18:49 of the second period. After winning an offensive zone face-off, Bennett glided to the top edge of the left circle, where he took a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and scored with a one-timer over Hellebuyck's glove.

“It was a set play that worked,” Bennett said. “Both wingers came in and helped win the draw, and then [Tkachuk] came around and found me in the middle. It was a great pass by him.”

It was the first point of the season for Tkachuk, who was playing in just his second game after missing the first 47 following surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia on Aug. 22.

“It's not easy to jump back in after seven months off the ice,” Bennett said. “So, he's looked great, and I think the more we play together the more we're going to just keep building the chemistry that we have had for so long.”

Perfetti tied it 1-1 at 5:24 of the third period. Jonathan Toews stole the puck from Uvis Balinskis in the offensive zone and found a cutting Perfetti, who moved the puck to his backhand and slid a shot past the left pad of Tarasov, who was moving the other way.

“I thought we played a better third period, took it to them a little more,” Perfetti said. “They play a hard style to play against with the high flips and the swarming. 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. And 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. We got pucks behind the 'D' and were able to establish a little bit more pressure. It was a better third.”