Hawks Edge Panthers In Shootout

The Chicago Blackhawks made their yearly appearance in South Florida and defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Thursday night at the Bank Atlantic Center. Current Panthers general manager Dale Tallon was once associated with the Hawks as a player, broadcaster and general manager. Heading into the game, Florida's 6-4-1 record to start the season was their best start through 11 games since they had the same record back in the 2005-06 season. Chicago began strong with a goal 4:04 into the game as Jonathan Toews redirected a pass across the crease from Andrew Brunette. Florida outshot their opponent 15-7 in the first period. Panthers goalie Jacob Markstrom robbed Patrick Sharp on two point-blank shots in the low slot, one in the first and one in the second. In the second period, the Blackhawks increased their lead to 2-0 as Patrick Kane passed the puck through the left circle for a one-timer slap shot from Marian Hossa from the low right circle at 4:51. The Panthers closed the gap at 18:19 as Tomas Fleischmann dropped a pass at the top of zone to Kris Versteeg. He then gave a lead pass to Stephen Weiss in the slot area where he pounced on his intial shot for his fifth goal this season. The Panthers tied the game at 17:56 of the third by an unlikely scorer, Ed Jovanovski. Sean O'Donnell tried to clear the puck out of the Blackhawks zone on a save by Corey Crawford. Dmitry Kulikov stopped it at the right point, took a shot and Jovanovski deflected the puck from the inner right circle. The Panthers had a 14-5 shot advantage in the third. Neither team scored in overtime, although Chicago had six shots in the extra session. The Blackhawks got the only goal in the shootout on their third attempt as Kane went 5-hole with a backhand shot for the win. The Panthers have three days off until they host Tampa Bay on Sunday afternoon while the Blackhawks travel to face the Lightning tomorrow night.