The Florida Panthers breezed by the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3 on Monday night at BB&T Center. Th4 Panthers jumped to first place in the National Hockey League and the Central Division. The last time Florida was in first place in the National Hockey League beyond the second game of the season was on December 28, 1996.
Chicago(14-11-5) struck first with 9:22 remaining in the first period. David Kampf took a shot that was stopped in front and Patrick Kane was able to snap a shot from the low slot past Sergei Bobrovsky for his 12th goal of the season. Kane and Kampf both extended their point streaks up to three games.
Florida(19-5-4), who won a season-high fourth consecutive game, evened it up 1-1 on the power play with 1:45 to go in the first. Gustav Forling angled a pass to the top left circle and Owen Tippett smashed a slap shot for his fourth goal of the campaign. Tippett now has a career-high, four-game point streak. Alex Wennberg was credited with a secondary assist on the play.
The Blackhawks regained the lead 2-1 at the 10:19 mark in the second period. Calvin de Haan sent a long lead pass to Mattias Janmark at the Florida blue line. He brought the puck into the left circle and made a cross-ice pass. Philipp Kurashev blasted a one-time slap shot from the right circle for his seventh goal this season.
It became 3-1 for the Hawks with 6:58 remaining in the frame. Duncan Keith released a slap shot from the left point that was saved. Brandon Hagel poked in the rebound from the top of the crease for his second straight contest with a tally.
The Panthers closed it to 3-2 with 5:02 to go in the second. Jonathan Huberdeau pushed the puck back to Keith Yandle at the top of the zone. He passed to his left and Aaron Ekblad powered a slap shot from the top left circle for his 10th goal of the year. It was the sixth time that Ekblad compiled a double-digit total for goals in a season.
It was tied again at 3-3 with four minutes left in the period. Carter Verhaeghe shifted the puck in the right corner to Aleksander Barkov. He connected a pass to the top of the Blackhawks zone and Forsling put a high wrist shot from the blue line past Kevin Lankinen to get his first goal this season. Barkov chalked up a point in nine of his last 10 contests while Verhaeghe expanded his point streak to four games.
In the third period, Florida got the 4-3 lead on a shorthanded goal with 6:34 remaining. MacKenzie Weegar, who played in his 200th NHL game, took a slap shot from the left point that was saved. Noel Acciari tried to stuff in the rebound several times from the top of the crease. Barkov charged in and scored on a forehand shot from the edge of the blue paint. It was the first shorthanded goal for the Cats in the 2020-21 season.
The Blackhawks pulled their goalie with 2:43 to go in the third for an extra attacker. It did not work as Verhaeghe put in an empty-net goal with 1:44 left and Wennberg added another with 55.5 seconds remaining.
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