SUNRISE, Fla. -- Connor Hellebuyck, a 23-year-old goalie from Commerce, Michigan, grew up watching Roberto Luongo.

On Wednesday, he denied the 37-year-old Luongo a milestone, at least for now.

Hellebuyck made 31 saves as his Winnipeg Jets defeated Luongo's Florida Panthers 4-1 at the BB&T Center.

It was Luongo's third unsuccessful try at passing Terry Sawchuk for fifth place on the career NHL wins list.

"He'll get it," Hellebuyck said of Luongo, who has 447 wins. "He's a good goalie. I was always a big fan of his, and being able to play him a couple of times and seeing what he's like ... I kind of share something with him."

Certainly, there is a kinship there between goalies. But Hellebuyck had a much easier night than Luongo (35 saves). For the most part, Hellebuyck got to enjoy his offense click, including Patrik Laine, who took over as the NHL's leading rookie goal-scorer.

Laine, the second overall pick in the 2016 draft, scored his 21st goal -- one more than Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, the No. 1 pick who had the night off.

The Jets (19-19-3) also got goals from Shawn Matthias, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele as they won their second straight game.

Florida (16-15-8), which is just 1-2-3 in its past six games, lost forward Seth Griffith after a hard hit by Ehlers.

"Seth's got a concussion," Panthers coach Tom Rowe said. "It was a dirty hit by Ehlers. He deliberately did it. I don't care what anybody says. We watched it on video, and it was a dirty hit.

"If the kid (Ehlers) is going to play like that in this league, it's going to be a long season for him.

"I don't know when players are going to start respecting the game and not going for the head."

The lone bright spot for Florida came when Panthers right winger Jaromir Jagr, already No. 2 in the NHL in career points, reached yet another milestone when he picked up an assist on Greg McKegg's second-period goal.

It was career assist No. 1,136 for Jagr, who passed Paul Coffey for fifth place in that category.

Winnipeg got the game's first goal with 15:00 left in the second period. The Jets' Adam Lowry won an offensive-zone faceoff inside the left circle. He got the puck to Paul Postma, whose shot from the point was tipped in by Matthias. It was Matthias' fifth goal of the season but his third in his past four games.

The Jets made it 2-0 with Laine's goal just 144 seconds later. Jets center Bryan Little, who had two assists in the game, pounced on a loose puck in the offensive zone and made a quick pass to his left to Laine, who was in alone on Luongo. Laine scored to the stick side.

"I was going to shoot until I realized who I was on the ice with," said Little, referring to Laine. "I was in a pretty good shooting position, too, but I figured if I got it to (Laine) it was pretty much guaranteed."

Florida cut its deficit to 2-1 on McKegg's first goal of the season with 1:18 left in the second period. Freed up with a short pass from Jagr, McKegg skated down the right wing and aimed for the far post, beating Hellebuyck to his stick side.

The Jets extended their lead to 3-1 with just 17:14 left in the third period. Little dug the puck out of the left corner and got it to Ehlers, who did the rest.

Winnipeg made it 4-1 with 7:55 left in the third. Jacob Trouba skated around the Panthers goal for a few seconds and wasn't bothered at all. Trouba finally ended the play by dishing to Scheifele for a point-blank goal.

Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle, who played in career game No. 700, including the past 590 consecutively, said losing Griffith was unfortunate.

"Anytime you lose a guy, it's tough," Yandle said. "But you can't make excuses this late in the season."

Rowe was more forceful in his opinion, though.

"Another injury, another concussion," Rowe said. "(Griffith) is out for God knows how long. He was playing really well -- that's the unfortunate thing."

NOTES: Florida C Aleksander Barkov (lower-body injury) missed what would have been an intriguing matchup against Jets RW Patrik Laine. Both are big, talented and young forwards from Tampere, Finland. Both were the No. 2 overall selections in recent NHL drafts -- Barkov, 21, to the Florida Panthers in 2013 and Laine, 18, to the Winnipeg Jets in 2016. ... In the teams' first meeting this season, Winnipeg beat Florida 4-3 in a Dec. 15 shootout. Jets C Bryan Little got the tying goal and then scored again in the shootout. ... Jets D Tyler Myers (lower-body injury) has missed 25 straight games but did participate in a light on-ice workout on Tuesday. ... Winnipeg scratched D Mark Stuart and RW Chris Thorburn. ... Florida sent D Dylan McIlrath to Springfield of the AHL on a conditioning assignment. ... Florida scratched RW Paul Thompson and C Colton Sceviour.