SUNRISE, Fla. – If you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.

Well, the Florida Panthers just did.

Taking down the hottest team in the NHL, the Panthers executed their game plan to perfection during a 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Improving to 12-5-1, the Panthers handed the Jets just their third loss of the season.

“We needed it,” head coach Paul Maurice said of getting back in the win column after back-to-back losses to the New Jersey Devils. “When you lose at home, it’s worse when it’s the same team that beats you twice. We needed kind of a foundation game to get back to the basics of what we’re good at, and we were good in almost all parts of [the game].”

Entering the matchup with the top-ranked offense and defense in the NHL, the Jets, who Maurice noted pre-game as having “no holes” in their game, were held without a goal for the first time this season, while also giving up at least five goals for only the second time.

In net, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 27 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season.

“I thought guys did a great job,” Bobrovsky said. “It was a complete game.”

Coming out with a head full of steam, the Panthers peppered Winnipeg’s net early and often right after the puck dropped, causing plenty of chaos and generating rebounds.

On a bang-bang sequence that began with a big hit from Uvis Balinskis in the defensive zone, the Panthers were rewarded for their relentlessness when Mackie Samoskevich deflected in a shot from Gustav Forsling to make it 1-0 at 14:59 of the first period.

Doubling the lead in the second period, Sam Bennett went coast to coast with the puck before firing a shot on Connor Hellebuyck and generating a rebound that Nate Schmidt powered into the back of the cage to put the Panthers up 2-0 at 2:07 of the second period.

Prior to joining the Panthers this past summer as a free agent, Schmidt had manned the blue line for the Jets for three seasons before having the final year of his deal bought out.

Already making an impact, Winnipeg’s loss has certainly been Florida’s gain.

“I just really liked our energy,” Schmidt said. “From the start of the game, our bench was going really well. When that happens, you can just feel it up and down with every guy.”

With an assist on Schmidt’s goal, Sam Reinhart pushed his point streak to 10 games.

Keeping the Jets at bay and momentum in Florida’s favor, Bobrovsky ushered in a familiar chorus of “Bob-by!” chants throughout the arena when he gobbled up a backhand from Mark Scheifele on a partial breakaway just before the 10-minute mark of the period.

Continuing to find success generating rebounds, the Panthers extended their lead to 3-0 when Evan Rodrigues picked up some loose change around the net and scored at 12:21. Heating up over his last seven games, Rodrigues has scored four times in that stretch.

Despite being on the penalty kill, the Panthers tacked on another goal when Aleksander Barkov buried a rebound after Reinhart cracked a shot off the post to make it 4-0 at 14:36. Dangerous even when down a man, Florida leads the NHL with five shorthanded goals.

Joining Schmidt in the ex-Jets defenseman scoring for the Panthers club, Dmitry Kulikov extended Florida’s lead to a commanding 5-0 when – with play at 4-on-4 – he re-directed a perfect centering feed from Barkov straight past Hellebuyck and into the twine at 3:23.

At 5-on-5, the Panthers surrendered just 35 shot attempts in the win.

“I thought we got back to our game,” Rodrigues said. “I thought we played really physical, a more playoff-style hockey that we’ve been used to. It was a really good 60 minutes.”

THEY SAID IT

“I thought we came out of our fog a little bit here. We were good tonight.” – Paul Maurice

“It was a big game against a really good opponent.” – Sergei Bobrovsky

“My controller disconnected for a second. I was watching Benny as a fan. I stopped skating for a second and was like, ‘Wow, nice play! Wait, I should probably be down there.’ It felt good.” – Nate Schmidt on scoring against his former team

CATS STATS

– Sam Reinhart is just the fifth player in franchise history to record multiple double-digit point streaks.

– Aleksander Barkov extended his assist streak to eight games.

– Sergei Bobrovsky joined Roberto Luongo as the only goaltenders in Panthers history with 150 wins.

– The Panthers are the first team to shut out the Jets since March 24, 2024.

– Anton Lundell won 57.1% of his faceoffs.

WHAT’S NEXT?

That’s it, back to Winnipeg!

If anyone gets that Simpsons reference, I appreciate it.

Kicking off a two-game road trip, the Panthers will close the book on their home-and-home series with the Jets when they drop the puck at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.

For tune-in information, click HERE.