Panthers 5, Jets 2
Kris Versteeg recorded his first career hat trick and added an assist as the Florida Panthers extended their points streak to six games with a 5-2 road victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
Jason Garrison and Mike Santorelli also tallied, Brian Campbell set up three goals and Tomas Fleischmann notched two assists to reach 100 for his career as Florida improved to 3-0-3 in its last six contests.
Versteeg opened the scoring at 7:14 of the first period and added a power-play goal with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the session to give the Panthers a 2-0 advantage.
Versteeg, who capped his three-goal performance with an empty-netter late in the third, leads the club with eight tallies and 17 points.
Garrison scored on a one-timer from above the right faceoff circle early in the second and Santorelli scored with the man advantage with 1:56 left for a 4-0 lead.
Tim Stapleton and captain Andrew Ladd scored for Winnipeg, which fell to 0-2-2 in its last four. Ondrej Pavelec yielded four goals on 15 shots before being replaced at the start of the third by Peter Mannino, who stopped all four shots he faced.