Chicago 3, Florida 2
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Where: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Referees:
Brandon Blandina, Trevor Hanson
Linesmen:
Devin Berg, Jonny Murray
Attendance:
N/A
By Field Level Media
Kevin Lankinen made 33 saves, Patrick Kane netted two assists, and Dominik Kubalik extended his point streak to six games to help the host Chicago Blackhawks snap a four-game skid with a 3-2 victory against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
Chicago raced to a 3-0 lead before holding off the Panthers to take the opener of a six-game homestand.
Kubalik opened the scoring at 6:24 of the first period, collecting a pass from Brandon Hagel and slipping a shot from the left faceoff circle through the five-hole of Panthers goaltender Chris Driedger.
Chicago made it 2-0 at 18:30 of the first, as Pius Suter redirected a Nikita Zadorov wrist shot from the blue line. Another redirect benefited the Blackhawks at 4:22 of the second, with Carl Soderberg sending a Kane shot past Driedger, who stopped 29 shots.
Florida responded with an Anton Stralman goal just over four minutes later, as he scored past Lankinen after Noel Acciari placed a backhand pass through the legs of Chicago's Ian Mitchell.
After spending time in the locker room upon absorbing a cross check from Zadurov, Acciari assisted on Alex Wennberg's power-play goal at 15:22 of the third, which came with Florida playing with two extra attackers as the team aggressively pulled Driedger.
Panthers leading scorer Alexsander Barkov was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. Barkov, who has 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points in 31 games, skated briefly in pregame warmups before leaving the ice.
Florida coach Joel Quenneville elected to replace Barkov with defenseman Markus Nutivaara, as the club used 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
The Panthers could have used Barkov's bite against the Blackhawks. He helped Florida to a 4-0 start against Chicago this season, tallying nine points.
Kane, who was honored in a pregame ceremony in his first home appearance since playing in his 1,000th career game March 9, tallied his 1,066th point to move into fourth place among American-born NHL players.
Chicago is set to host Florida again Thursday night.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Florida |
|
Chicago |
|
Noel Acciari 2 |
Points |
Patrick Kane 2 |
|
Anton Stralman 1 |
Goals |
Dominik Kubalik 1 |
|
Noel Acciari 2 |
Assists |
Patrick Kane 2 |
|
Alex Wennberg 1 |
Power Play Goals |
Carl Soderberg 1 |
|
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
|
Chris Driedger .906 |
Save Percentage |
Kevin Lankinen .943 |
|
Chris Driedger 29 |
Saves |
Kevin Lankinen 33 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
| Florida
|
35 |
2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
6 |
34 |
| Chicago
|
32 |
3 |
1-3 |
1-2 |
4 |
34 |
Upcoming Games
-
Chicago will play their next game at home against Florida. The Blackhawks have a W/L % of .429 after a win and .500 after a loss.
-
Florida will play their next game on the road against Chicago. The Panthers have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .833 after a loss.
For more information, contact us