Jets Cool Off Panthers, 4-3
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - A controversial late goal tied the game, and the Winnipeg Jets made the most of it.
Andrew Ladd and Kyle Wellwood each scored goals in a shootout and the Jets beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Monday night.
Evander Kane scored two goals and Wellwood also scored in regulation for Winnipeg. Ondrej Pavelec stopped a season-high 39 of 42 shots from the Panthers.
Tomas Fleischmann scored two goals in the third period for the Panthers and Jason Garrison also scored for Florida, while Jose Theodore made 28 saves.
Each team scored a goal in the game's final minutes of regulation.
It was Kane's second goal that tied it 3-all at 19:10 that caused the disputed goal. There was a loose puck bouncing in front that Kane backhanded into the net in mid-air. One referee immediately waved it off but the others signaled goal. The goal was awarded to the Jets after a video review to determine if there was a high-stick.
"There were three calls on the play," Kane said. "Disallowed, then they called it a goal on the ice, and then they went upstairs. I've never really seen that before, but it was nice to see them make the right call."
The Panthers didn't see it that way.
"When you get it waved off that emphatically, the referee is standing there and he waves it off three or four times, you're under the assumption it's going to be a no goal," Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said. "It's surprising, very surprising, that it would go from that to, all of a sudden, goal. When a guy's waving it off that much, it's a shame. I think some people will learn some lessons from that. I think there was a mistake made on the ice and unfortunately it cost us a point, a very expensive point."
There were some nervous moments for Winnipeg as they waited for the review.
"No, I wasn't confident, but I thought that it was good," Jets coach Claude Noel said. "I wasn't confident that it would hold up. The review is the review, they get a different angle and different people looking at it, so you just hope that things fall your way."
