The Florida Panthers dominated the Chicago Blackhawks, winning by a 5-1 count at Amerant Bank Arena to maintain first place in the Atlantic Division.
Landon Slaggert opened the scoring seven seconds after initial puck drop, setting a new record for the fastest first goal for a Blackhawks franchise the began play in 1926. Ryan Donato pushed the puck into the Panthers zone from center and Slaggert skated it down and then beat Sergei Bobrovsky five-hole with a backhand for his third career goal.
The Panthers would shake off the negative moment and take complete control, evening the score 5:21 later. After Dmitry Kulikov’s shot was blocked by Jason Dickinson, Niko Mikkola tracked down the rebound and threw it into the slot. A.J. Greer took the first crack at it before Jonah Gadjovich, playing in his first game since December 20, swatted it into the net with a scrum of players in front of Petr Mzarek.
Sam Reinhart would notch his 30th goal of the season to put the Cats on top at the 10:19 mark. Florida had Chicago hemmed into its own zone for a spell before Mzarek denied Gustav Forsling. The rebound came all the back to Aaron Ekblad at the right point. Ekblad went down the boards to Aleksander Barkov, who centered in front to Reinhart. Reinhart took the captain’s pass off his skate, got his stick loose and swept the puck home to register his fourth straight 30-goal season as a Panther, a franchise first.
Mrazek held the door shut to keep his outplayed team within one until late in the second period. Carter Verhaghe took a pass down low from Reinhart and then set him up in the right circle . Reinhart let go of a shot that Matthew Tkachuk was able to get a piece of it and knock past Mrazek with 3:31 remaining in the frame.
Florida won the draw that opened the third and Niko Mikkola dumped the puck in around boards. A strong forecheck by Anton Lundell forced Alex Vlasic into a turnover and the Swedish pivot centerdc out in front to Evan Rodrigues, who quickly sniped a helpless Mrazek at the ten-second mark.
The Cats first line made quick work of a Ilya Mikheyev high-sticking minor, scoring off the rush at 9:37, 23 seconds after the penalty. Barkov carried into the zone, got the puck to Reinhart on the right side, and he went across the crease to Carter Verhaeghe for the back door put-away.
If it wasn’t for a superb performace from Mrazek for much of the game, especially in the first period, the Panthers might have hit double-digits in this one. The Cats out-shot the Blackhawks 45-24 and had 87 shot attempts over sixty minutes, including a season-high 47 in the opening frame. After yielding on the first shot of the game, Bobrovsky continue his recent run of fine play by blanking the Blackhawks the rest of the way, making this afternoon affair an easy one as the Panthers gave Paul Maurice his 900th NHL win. Florida will finish off the homestand this evening when they host the New York Islanders.
Deep Dish
- Registering a goal and two assists, Sam Reinhart earned the nod for First Star. It was Reinhart’s first three-point performance since December 5.
- Niko Mikkola played in 300th NHL game and his assist was his 18th point of the season. Mikkola has matched his career-high in points with 29 games left on the schedule.
- Aleskander Barkov became the first player in franchise history to record 200 multi-point games. Barkov was credited with three shots and a block, and won 66.7% of his faceoffs.
- Landon Slaggert’s quick strike topped Brent Sutter, who scored eight seconds into a game against the Vancouver Canucks on February 5, 1995, by one second.
- Carter Verhaeghe produced a goal and an assist and finished with a game-high nine shots. Verhaege has amassed five points in his last six games.
StatCard
