FHN Today: Florida Panthers Finally Heading Home

Paul Maurice had hoped to walk out of his Winnipeg homecoming with a third consecutive win for the Florida Panthers.

The Jets had other plans.

Although the Jets rolled out the red carpet for both their longtime head coach and assistant coach Jamie Kompon, that is where the hospitality ended.

Winnipeg sent the Panthers back to the tropics with a 5-2 loss.

But first, the team feted the two with a nice video as the fans gave them a standing ovation.

As the video ended, Maurice pulled Kompon over and put his arm around him, waving to the crowd.

“It’s such a special place,” Maurice said. “Jamie and I really appreciated it. It was good on the bench, good on the stands. It was classy as they always are here. We both were here for a very long time and I am appreciative that they honored him as well.”

The Panthers ended up going 2-2-1 on the road trip and return to South Florida today.

They have another tall-order coming up as the vastly-improved Detroit Red Wings are waiting after another big win in Tampa.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW

The Panthers looked like a team on the end of a long road trip early on in Winnipeg but came alive in the second period — only Connor Hellebuyck was in net and they found little success.

The big news was Maurice having the quick hook for Spencer Knight, but he explained that he wanted to get Sergei Bobrovsky some work and feel a little better about things.

Bobrovsky was pretty good, so, that’s a positive.

— The Panthers started Knight for the third consecutive game as three call-ups from Charlotte made their season debuts.

— Lot of pre- and postgame video up on the FHN YouTube Channel including not one but TWO videos from Maurice as well as Zac Dalpe. We also have Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Reinhart on there.

Check out all of our FHN videos RIGHT HERE or just click on the videos below and enjoy them at your leisure.

NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW

Don’t look know, but the Detroit Red Wings look like they’re going to be trouble moving forward.

Tuesday night, they beat the Lightning 4-2 and now have a three-point lead on the Panthers for third place in the Atlantic with a (gasp) game-in-hand.

— Maurice was not the only coach getting a homecoming on Tuesday as new Detroit bench boss Derek Lalonde got a nice welcome from the Lightning.

— Injury problems continue to bug the Philadelphia Flyers.

— The Boston Bruins should be getting Craig Smith back on this upcoming road trip.

— The Washington Capitals know they have not seen the best of Anthony Mantha just yet.

— Jason Robertson’s scoring streak came to a close as the Dallas Stars lose to the Leafs.

— The Pittsburgh Penguins came back after a quick Columbus goal to get a nice win.

PANTHERS ON DECK

DETROIT RED WINGS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise 
• Streaming ONLY: ESPN+/Hulu
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Last season: Florida won 4-0
• All-time regular season series: Florida leads 33-19-6, 5 ties