SUNRISE, Fla. -- Panthers center Jonathan Marchessault had a brief moment of doubt, maybe his only one of the night.

When he scored his third goal on Saturday night, completing a natural hat trick in Florida's 7-0 rout over the first-place Chicago Blackhawks at the BB&T Center, he didn't see his teammates react.

"I knew it was in," Marchessault said, "but nobody was celebrating so I was questioning myself a little bit there."

Marchessault shouldn't have doubted himself.

Not on this night.

Not on a night in which everything the Panthers threw at the net in a three-goal second period and a four-goal third period seemed to hit the back of the net.

Marchessault, who also had two goals in his previous game, has a team-high 28 scores this season. His three goals on Saturday were uninterrupted, thus the natural hat trick.

It was Florida's first home hat trick since Tomas Kopecky in 2013. Marchessault's 28 goals are the third most by a player in his first season with the Panthers, trailing only Scott Mellanby (30) and Ray Whitney (32). Both of those happened in the 1990s.

And just like it was Marchessault's first career hat trick, it was also the first shutout in a Panthers uniform for James Reimer (25 saves), who was excellent on a night of many Florida stars.

Jonathan Huberdeau had one goal and three assists, Aleksander Barkov had one goal and two assists; and Nick Bjugstad and Reilly Smith also scored.

Huberdeau had much praise for Marchessault.

"He's much better than me," Huberdeau said of his teammate's scoring ability. "Every time he gets a one-timer, it's either on the post or in. I'm really happy he's having a great year -- 28 goals, that's impressive."

Marchessault's second goal put Florida up 4-0, and that was enough for Chicago goalie Corey Crawford (21 saves). But Florida also scored three goals on backup Scott Darling.

The Panthers (33-30-11), who are seven points shy of the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference and have four teams to leapfrog, won their second game in a row.

Chicago (48-21-6), which leads the Western Conference with 102 points, is 18-4-1 in its past 23 games.

Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell, who still holds the Panthers record with 376 consecutive games played after wearing a Florida jersey from 2011 to 2016, was honored by his former team when a video tribute played on the arena's video screen.

As it turned out, it was the only highlight of the night for Campbell, who was minus-four. But he was hardly the only Chicago player to have a bad game.

"It was a tough loss especially when we had a lot of Chicago fans who came out to watch this game," Blackhawks center and team captain Jonathan Toews said. "We have to light that fire again and play the right kind of hockey going into the playoffs."

Early on, it didn't seem like it was going to be a rout either way. Florida waited until 17 seconds into the second period to get its first goal. Huberdeau passed to Barkov, who took the feed in stride and scored on a wrist shot.

The Panthers made it 2-0 with 10:21 elapsed in the second period on a five-on-three power play. Ryan Hartman and Marcus Kruger were in the penalty box when Florida scored. This time, it was Barkov who fed Huberdeau for a one-timer from the right circle, 43 seconds into the two-man advantage.

Just over a minute later, Marchessault scored, and Barkov and Huberdeau both picked up assists. The goal was scored just two seconds after the power play had ended.

"That five-on-three changed the complexion of the game," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "This was an ugly, ugly game."

Not for the Panthers, who really started to pour it on once Marchessault scored 4:59 into the third period, making the score 4-0.

"It was fun to play when you can make (all) those plays," Barkov said. "In the second period, we took over. And in the third, we didn't stop."

NOTES: Panthers RW Jaromir Jagr left the game with a lower-body injury. Panthers coach Tom Rowe said he didn't think it was a serious injury, but Jagr is questionable for the next game, Tuesday at the Buffalo Sabres. ... Panthers D Aaron Ekblad missed four straight games due to a concussion, came back for one game and now has missed two straight with a neck injury. He may miss another week of action. ... Panthers G Roberto Luongo (lower-body injury) could return at some point in the next week. ... Chicago C Artem Anisimov (leg) is expected to be out another three weeks. ... Florida C Nick Bjugstad said "that's pretty crazy" when told that Thursday's Arizona Coyotes game was the first one in Panthers history that did not have a penalty whistled on either team. ... The Blackhawks play at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday and then visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday in a glamour matchup.