Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves to earn his fifth straight victory and Aleksander Barkov had two goals and one assist, leading the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Brandon Hagel scored early and Adam Boqvist got one with 92 seconds left for the Blackhawks, who got 31 saves from Kevin Lankinen. But it wasn't enough for the Blackhawks, who lost for the third time in four games.
The Panthers, who also got goals from Carter Verhaeghe and Frank Vatrano, have won five of their past six games, including three straight. Vatrano has seven goals in nine career games against Chicago.
Anthony Duclair, who had missed six straight games due to a lower-body injury, returned to the lineup and provided two assists.
But the assist of the game belonged to Owen Tippett, who served Vatrano with a no-look backhand pass from behind the net.
Tippett, Florida's first-round pick in 2017 (10th overall), had just two goals and two assists in his first 22 NHL games. But he is on a three-game point streak with two goals and one assist.
Besides Duclair, Florida also got defenseman Anton Stralman back from a lower-body injury.
Before the game, the Panthers honored defenseman Keith Yandle for his 1,000th career game, which he played Sunday on the road. This was Florida's first home game since then, and Yandle was given a golf cart, a silver hockey stick and a video tribute.
After a scoreless first period in which Chicago outshot Florida 14-6, the Blackhawks made it 1-0 just 28 seconds into the second as Hagel and Dominik Kubalik worked a give-and-go. Kubalik threaded a pass between Stralman's legs, and Hagel fired on the open right side of the net.
Florida tied the score on Barkov's first goal with 7:46 gone in the second. After taking a pass from Duclair, Barkov poked in the rebound of his own shot.
The Panthers took a 2-1 lead with 9:00 left in the second. MacKenzie Weegar's shot was stopped, but the rebound came out all the way to the high slot, where Verhaeghe let loose with a high blast for the goal.
Florida made it 3-1 just 79 seconds later. Tippett got the primary assist with his slick pass to Vatrano, who scored from the doorstep.
Barkov's goal with 9:59 left in the third on a great set-up pass from Duclair iced the game as the Panthers improved to 3-0 against Chicago this year.
--Field Level Media
Chicago | Florida | |
Adam Boqvist 1 | Points | Aleksander Barkov 3 |
Adam Boqvist 1 | Goals | Aleksander Barkov 2 |
David Kampf 1 | Assists | Anthony Duclair 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Kevin Lankinen .886 | Save Percentage | Sergei Bobrovsky .938 |
Kevin Lankinen 31 | Saves | Sergei Bobrovsky 30 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Chicago | 32 | 2 | 0-4 | 2-2 | 4 | 24 |
Florida | 35 | 4 | 0-2 | 4-4 | 8 | 48 |