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Oct 24, 2018, 11:31 PM
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If anything, the Panthers could use another scorer and maybe a defenseman
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WINNIPEG [url=http://www.jetsshoppro.com/authentic-nikolaj-ehlers-jersey]Nikolaj Ehlers Jersey , Manitoba (AP) Roman Josi had this one circled on his calendar.Hard to imagine the Predators defenseman could have played much better.Josi had five assists, Craig Smith scored twice and Ryan Hartman redirected in the winning goal during his Nashville debut, sending the streaking Predators to a 6-5 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in their Central Division showdown Tuesday night.¡±We knew before the game it¡¯s a huge game,¡± Josi said. ¡±We marked it as probably the most important game up to this point in the season.¡±Hartman, acquired in a trade with Chicago at Monday¡¯s deadline, gave the defending Western Conference champions their first lead with a minute left when he tapped in a feed from Josi.¡±I didn¡¯t really have to do much for it, you know,¡± Hartman said of his ninth goal this season. ¡±(Josi) put that right on my tape.¡±Kyle Turris, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Johansen also scored as Nashville won its fifth straight, padding its division lead to four points over the Jets. Josi extended his point streak to five games (one goal, 11 assists).¡±We know how well they¡¯re playing this year and how good of a team they are,¡± Josi said. ¡±It was a great test for us.¡±Josi praised Hartman for his all-around effort.¡±I thought even before he scored that goal he was really good,¡± Josi said. ¡±He was hard on the forecheck. He made a lot of good plays, had a lot of shots. I thought he played great and obviously he topped it off with the game-winner.¡±Mark Scheifele scored twice and new Winnipeg forward Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist. Matt Hendricks and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored.Stastny was obtained Monday in a trade with St. Louis.¡±It was good to get it out of the way,¡± he said after scoring his 13th goal this season and first with his new club. ¡±This afternoon I didn¡¯t sleep a wink. I was just more anxious [url=http://www.jetsshoppro.com/authentic-patrik-laine-jersey]http://www.jetsshoppro.com/authentic-patrik-laine-jersey , nerves and excitement.¡±Ehlers added one assist and Patrik Laine had two.Pekka Rinne stopped 34 shots for the Predators, who opened a four-game road trip. Rinne improved to 14-1-1 in his last 16 starts.Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for Winnipeg.¡±It was last shot wins,¡± Jets coach Paul Maurice said. ¡±I don¡¯t think they got any more quality offense in the third.¡±After a scoreless first period, the teams combined for seven goals in the second, with Winnipeg taking a 4-3 lead into the third.The second period featured five goals in just under five minutes.Hendricks started it off at 2:45 when his shot from the slot went past Rinne. Smith got the equalizer six minutes later, but then Scheifele triggered the flurry of goals at both ends of the ice.The top-line center scored his 20th of the season off a slick pass from Jack Roslovic at 12:41. Smith got his second when Stastny sent him a pass from the side of the net out front less than two minutes later for a 3-1 lead.Blake Wheeler assisted on the second goal, extending his point streak to nine games with four goals and 11 assists during that stretch.Turris replied at 15:07 to cut the lead 3-2, and Ekholm scored with one second left on a power play after the Jets had unsuccessfully challenged Turris¡¯ goal for offside. Winnipeg was dinged with a delay-of-game penalty for the failed challenge.Ehlers finished the period¡¯s scoring with his 25th of the season at 17:39.Stastny scored 10 minutes into the third for a 5-3 lead, but Smith scored 55 seconds later and Johansen tied it for Nashville at 13:56.¡±The positivity in this room, even though you¡¯re down a goal, down two goals, the guys know there¡¯s enough tools in here to score plenty of goals and win at any given time,¡± Hartman said.NOTES: Viktor Arvidsson had two assists for the Predators. ¡ Laine got assists on the goals by Stastny and Ehlers, pushing his point streak to six games. ¡ Stastny won 14 of 19 faceoffs. ¡±He¡¯s a cagey guy,¡± Scheifele said. ¡±He knows the areas to go to to create offense [url=http://www.jetsshoppro.com/authentic-paul-stastny-jersey]Paul Stastny Jersey , and in the (defensive) zone the areas to be.¡± ¡ Jets defenseman Joe Morrow, just acquired from Montreal, was on the ice after veteran Toby Enstrom was scratched.UP NEXTPredators: Play in Edmonton on Thursday.Jets: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.¡ª SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) The Florida Panthers were one of the best teams in the NHL after the All-Star break, not that it counted for much at the end of the regular season.Despite winning five games over the final seven days and tying for first in the NHL with 25 victories over their final 35 games, the Panthers failed to make the playoffs for the fifth time in six years and the 15th time in 17 seasons.¡±It¡¯s disappointing,¡± said center Vincent Trocheck, who finished the season with a team-high 31 goals. ¡±Everybody here had one goal, and that was to make the playoffs and then go on a push. We were really hoping we¡¯d get a little help from some other teams and maybe get in. I think there¡¯s a lot of teams that didn¡¯t want to play us if we got in.¡±The Panthers finished with a 44-30-8 record for 96 points, matching the 2014-15 Boston Bruins for most points for a team missing the playoffs. The Panthers were 25-8-2 after the All-Star break, tying the Winnipeg Jets for most victories over the final 35 games.But Florida couldn¡¯t overcome a slow start. The Panthers was 4-8-2 in its first 14 games and played catch-up the whole season. They held a playoff position for one day (after the games of Oct. 12) the entire season.¡±We¡¯re extremely proud of this group,¡± Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. ¡±The effort they put forth, especially in the second half of the season ¡ 96 points is not easy to do in this league. It¡¯s a shame that we¡¯re not in with that kind of a total. Maybe that¡¯s something that¡¯s going to even drive us harder next year.¡±¡ªSome things to know about the Panthers¡¯ disappointing 2017-18 season, and a look to `18-19:OFFSEASON PRIORITY: The Panthers don¡¯t seem to need much after their post-All-Star break performance, particularly since every key member of the team is signed through next season or beyond. The top seven scorers [url=http://www.officialflames.com/authentic-adidas-sean-monahan-jersey]http://www.officialflames.com/authentic-adidas-sean-monahan-jersey , as well as goalies Roberto Luongo and James Reimer, are signed through the 2019-20 season. If anything, the Panthers could use another scorer and maybe a defenseman, but the team has a solid foundation in place.YOUTH IS SERVED: Perhaps the biggest reason for optimism for the Panthers looking ahead has to do with a core that¡¯s been around for a few years but is still very young. The team¡¯s top three scorers ¨C Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Huberdeau ¨C and top-four defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Mike Matheson all are 24 or younger.HOME COOKING: The Panthers¡¯ season-ending five-game winning streak including a sweep of a four-game homestand that featured games against two of the top four teams in the NHL, the Nashville Predators and the Boston Bruins. A 4-3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres in the home finale helped the Panthers set a franchise record with 27 home victories, breaking the mark of 26 set in 1999-2000.STILL GOING: Defenseman Keith Yandle completed a ninth consecutive season without missing a game, extending the longest active streak in the NHL to 715 consecutive games. Yandle ended the season with 56 points, one shy of the franchise record for defensemen set by Robert Svehla in 1995-96. His blueline partner Aaron Ekblad tied the franchise mark for defensemen with 16 goals, first set by Jason Garrison in 2011-12.HOW LONG CAN LUONGO GO? Goalie Roberto Luongo started three games in four nights last week as the Panthers made their final push to the playoffs, and he joined Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy as the only goalies to play 1,000 games when he defeated Boston on Thursday. But he did turn 39 on April 4 and missed 32 games this season because of injuries. The Panthers will have to decide whether they want to come back next season with Luongo and James Reimer as their goaltending duo.¡ª
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