Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville made his return to Chicago as the Florida Panthers defeated his former club the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at United Center on Tuesday night. Quenneville led the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
It was the last game of a three-game road swing and the final contest before the NHL All-Star Game break for the Panthers. The next game they will play is on Feburary 1 in Montreal.
After a scoreless first frame, the game changed in the second period. Florida(28-16-5), who won their sixth consecutive game, moved out to a 1-0 lead at the 4:49 mark. Evgenii Dadonov backhanded the puck from the end wall to Aleksander Barkov in the left corner. He carried it around the Blackhawks cage and tried to stuff in a shot. Robin Lehner made the initial save, however Dadonov poked in the rebound with a backhand stroke from the right side of the crease for his 23rd goal of the season.
The Panthers expanded the gap to 2-0 at 6:14. Frank Vatrano cycled the puck from the right point around the boards to Dominic Toninato behind the Chicago net. He centered it from the right goal line and Vartrano snapped a shot from the right circle.
It became a 3-0 lead for the Cats with 9:56 left in the second. Brian Boyle sent a lead pass from his own zone to Aaron Ekblad at the Blackhawks blue line. He angled a pass to his left and Vantrano put in a wrist shot from the left-circle dot for his second of the contest.
Chicago(24-21-6) closed it to 3-1 with 6:27 remaining in the period. Slater Koekkoek pushed the puck ahead at center ice to Andrew DeBrincat. He entered the Panthers zone, connected a cross-ice pass and Kirby Darch lifted a backhand shot from the low left circle past Sergei Bobrovsky.
Vatrano got the hat trick while on the power play with 36.4 seconds to go in the second. Jonathan Huberdeau intercepted an outlet pass at the top of the zone and moved it ahead to Mike Hoffman in the right circle. He sent a cross-ice pass through the crease area and Vatrano tapped the puck in from the blue paint for his 14th goal of the season. It was the first hat trick for Vatrano with Florida. The last time a Panthers player had a hat trick on the road was by Nick Bjugstad last season in Tampa Bay. Hoffman was able to extend his own point streak to 10 games.
In the third period, the Blackhawks made it 4-2 with the man advantage at the four-minute mark. Duncan Keith sailed a pass from the left point to Erik Gustafsson on the top portion of the zone. His one-time slap shot was deflected in by Drake Caggiula in the crease area.
Chicago pulled their goalie for an extra attacker and it worked as Chicago trailed 4-3 with 1:15 left. Darch made a pass from the right circle to the left circle and Patrick Kane blasted a slap shot for his 25th goal.
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