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A shot by Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers (not shown) gets past Florida Panthers goaltender James Reimer during the second period in Winnipeg, on Feb. 18, 2018.Trevor Hagan

Kyle Connor scored twice and Blake Wheeler and Tyler Myers each had three assists as the Winnipeg Jets extended their winning streak to three games with a 7-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, Bryan Little, Mathieu Perreault and Patrik Laine also scored for the Jets, who have one more game in their season-long 10-game homestand (6-2-1).

Wheeler extended his point streak to five games and has two goals and seven assists. He's also racked up 13 points in his last nine games. Scheifele has three goals and five assists during a four-game point roll.

Denis Malgin and Aleksander Barkov both scored on the power play for the Panthers, who had won their previous three games.

Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the Jets (35-15-9), who moved into first place in the NHL Central Division with 79 points, two points ahead of idle Nashville, which has a pair of games in hand.

James Reimer stopped 27 shots for the Panthers (26-24-6).

The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period and Winnipeg led 3-2 after two.

Winnipeg's run of killing off 16 straight penalties ended at 8:57 of the first period when Malgin's shot from the top of the right circle went high past Hellebuyck while Myers was in the box for tripping.

The Jets then tallied their own power-play goal 13 seconds after Panthers defenceman Mark Pysyk was penalized for boarding. Wheeler threaded a pass through defenders across the front of the net for Connor, who quickly shot the puck into the net as Reimer was moving over at 12:06.

Shots on goal were 12 a piece in the opening frame.

Ehlers gave Winnipeg the 2-1 lead when his shot hit a Florida stick, the puck went up in the air and then rolled off Reimer's back into the net at 4:39 of the second. It was his 23rd goal of the season.

Barkov was credited with his 20th after he got a piece of a shot Evgenii Dadonov swatted into the net 22 seconds after Jets forward Jack Roslovic was sent off for holding at 7:12. Barkov has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past eight games.

A quick pass by Wheeler to Scheifele in the slot gave the Jets the 3-2 lead with 1:31 left in the second.

Connor scored his 21st goal in his rookie season on another pass from Wheeler into the slot at 3:38. Little notched his 13th less than three minutes later to make it 5-2. Perreault picked up his 16th and Laine got his team-leading 27th with a backhand shot with 1:35 remaining.

Notes: Winnipeg hosts the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday and Florida plays in Toronto the same day.

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Reuters

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