Blackhawks 3, Panthers 0 – Recap

The BB&T Center was the site for the Blackhawks’ rematch with the Florida Panthers. A huge question going into the game was how the Blackhawks would play in the absence of Patrick Kane, who, at the time of his injury, led the NHL in points. Early on, the Hawks dominated the game, and got the game’s first goal when Shaw delivered a big hit, then made a great pass to Teuvo Teräväinen who put the puck into the back of the net a little over three minutes in. For most of the first period, the Hawks simply outplayed the Panthers everywhere on the ice, getting plenty of scoring chances (though, no goals) while keeping Florida from really getting anything going. With 3:48 to play in the first, Florida would get a chance to get back into the game, going on the power play after Tim Erixon was called for interfering with Tomas Fleischman. The Panthers power play ended prematurely, though, after Brad Boyes hooked Ben Smith, sending the game to 4-on-4 play. The Panthers made it worse for themselves sixteen seconds later, when Dmitry Kulikov held Brandon Saad and was sent to the penalty box for doing so, giving the Hawks a 4-on-3 man advantage for 22 seconds before the Erixon penalty ended and the Hawks had a 2-man advantage for a minute and 22 seconds. The Hawks had some great chances, but were unable to score, and the first period would end with the Hawks up 1-0.

Less than a minute into the second period, the Hawks would get a power play when Jonathan Huberdeau tripped Kyle Cumiskey. The Hawks would come up empty on the power play, but shortly after, they would expand their lead to 2-0 when Brandon Saad beat Luongo with a shot. Like Turbo’s goal, Saad’s came a little over three minutes into the period. After the goal, the Hawks continued to control the action, with Roberto Luongo having to make a few nice saves to keep the game 2-0 Blackhawks. A little past midway through the period, momentum swung the Panthers’ way and they began to control the action. They would put together a nice shift in their offensive zone, but were unable to get anything past Corey Crawford on the shift. As the Hawks began to pick up their play again, Vincent Trocheck was called for holding Kris Versteeg. It was ruled that Versteeg dove, though, so we would go to 4-on-4 play. Neither team would score in the 4-on-4, and afterward, the Panthers would go on to get the better chances. They would do so for the rest of the period, but would not score, and we would head into the second intermission with the score 2-0 in favor of the Blackhawks.

The first half of the third period saw the Hawks control the action, getting a couple nice chances, while limiting Florida’s. Just over ten-and-a-half minutes into the period, the Hawks would get a power play as Boyes was sent off for goalie interference. The Panthers would do a good job on the penalty kill and keep the Hawks from getting any particularly great looks. The Hawks kept up their level of play into the late stages of the game. The Panthers pulled Luongo with just over three minutes to play in favor of the extra attacker. The Panthers were unable to score as the Hawks played very good defense and Crawford made a couple really nice saves. After a couple unsuccessful tries at the empty net, the Hawks would put the exclamation point on the game when Marian Hossa, who was short of center waited for a play to develop in front of him, then made a pass to Jonathan Toews, who put the puck in the empty net. The Panthers would get one more good chance after putting Luongo back on the ice, but they would be denied by Crawford, who recorded his second shutout of the season as part of the 3-0 Blackhawks victory.

My picks for 3 stars:

★★★ Andrew Shaw, F, CHI (1 A)

★★ Corey Crawford, G, CHI (20 SV, 0 GA)

★ Teuvo Teräväinen, F, CHI (1 G (GWG))

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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