The Florida Panthers kicked off their seven-game homestand with a disappointing 3-0 loss to an ornery bunch of Chicago Blackhawks tonight at a raucous BB&T Center. Corey Crawford made 20 stops to post the shutout as the Blackhawks took a second straight from the slumping Panthers.
Teuvo Teravainen, recalled from Rockford due to Patrick Kane‘s injury Tuesday night, opened the scoring 3:08 into the game with his third of the season from Andrew Shaw and David Rundblad. Chicago controlled the rest of the first period, out-shooting the Cats by a 10-4 margin. Roberto Luongo was sharp, helping the home team stay in the game.
The second period started off much the same, with Brandon Saad scoring to put Chicago up by two. The helpers on Saad’s nineteenth would go to Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa. After not getting a shot on goal for almost eight minutes, the Panthers finally came to life and ending up carrying the play for the remainder of the frame, but could not solve Crawford.
In the third, Chicago reasserted their dominance against the game, but sloppy Cats and finally put them out of their misery when captain Jonathan Toews fired the puck into the empty-net with Luongo pulled for an extra-attacker. Brother Louie delivered another strong performance, finishing with 26 saves.
In case you missed it, that Jaromir Jagr guy should be in the lineup for Saturdays game against the Buffalo Sabres. So there’s that… Make sure to stop back by LBC in the morning. Kevin will have the A.M. Recap as we complete the ol’ switcheroo for reviewing this edition of Blackhawks – Cats.