A crushing hit, a lineup change and another comeback: Panthers win again to move into 1st
The Florida Panthers were searching for something — anything — to push through one of their becoming-too-frequent first half doldrums Saturday. The Chicago Blackhawks were doubling their shot total and leading early in the second, and the Panthers needed to find some fix after the Blackhawks scored in the first 30 seconds of the period.
Joel Quenneville reshuffled his lines and moved Anthony Duclair back to the top line. Radko Gudas delivered a crunching hit right in front of Florida’s bench. Another patented Panthers comeback was on. Florida was heading to a 4-2 win at the BB&T Center.
“Guds has some impacts on changing the complexion of games with the physicality he brings,” Quenneville said. “At the same time, Duke had good speed in that first period there. We didn’t want to change the lines, but I wanted to get him back in the lineup.”
Gudas’ hit about five minutes into the second period wound up being the turning point for the entire game. Forwards Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe and Frank Vatrano all scored in the next eight minutes — within 4:33 of each other — and the Panthers secured another come-from-behind victory in Sunrise.
Florida (18-5-4) outshot the Blackhawks, 27-11, after the Gudas hit. The members of Panthers’ reunited top line — with Barkov, Verhaeghe and, from the second period on, Duclair — combined for three goals and three assists. Florida now leads the league with 11 wins after giving up the first goal and is in a tie for first place in the Central Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“There’s going to be swings back and forth,” Sergei Bobrovsky said. “You just have to stay with it and stay with the moment.”
The goaltender kept the Panthers afloat through the first 25 minutes. Florida killed off two penalties in the first period, then Chicago (14-10-5) went on another power play just seconds after scoring in the opening minute of the second.
Bobrovsky made two more saves and denied the Blackhawks again. Chicago entered the weekend with the third best power-play percentage in the NHL and the Panthers held them to 0 of 4.
For most of the rest of the period, Bobrovsky could watch from the other end of the ice. The Blackhawks were outshooting Florida, 16-8, after the power play and then Gudas swung the game.
The defenseman laid out Chicago forward Carl Soderberg right in front of the Panthers’ bench. Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar’s jaw literally dropped. Duclair and Verhaeghe both pointed to this as the turning point.
“It definitely sparked us a little bit there,” Verhaeghe told Fox Sports Florida during the second intermission.
“I don’t know if you saw the bench,” Duclair later said, “but the boys were pretty pumped.”
Barkov started the run with a goal off a faceoff win. The star center won a draw in the left circle in the offensive zone and dumped a pass down to Duclair at the goal line, then charged toward the net. The winger, who returned from seven-game injury absence Saturday, tapped a pass back to Barkov, who shot once into star goaltender Kevin Lankinen’s stick and followed up his shot to fire home the rebound goal. His 10th goal of the season tied the game at 1-1 with 12:14 left in the second.
Less than four minutes later, Verhaeghe put Florida ahead 2-1. Barkov set up at the blue line while the Panthers figured out an entry and MacKenzie Weegar took charge. The defenseman rushed into the zone of a pass from Barkov and ripped a shot from the right faceoff circle, creating a massive rebound. Verhaeghe trailed the play, corralled the rebound near the blue line and fired home the go-ahead goal with nine minutes left in the period.
“When it comes to Carter and Barky,” Duclair said, “we have that instant chemistry and we just want to keep going, for sure.”
Vatrano — who scored the game-winning goal in overtime to cap a three-goal, third-period comeback Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets — capped this three-goal burst 1:19 later. Left wing Owen Tippett won a puck off the boards behind the net and sent a centering pass back to the goalmouth. Vatrano shot form the right doorstep across the net to beat Lankinen and give Florida a 3-1 lead with 7:41 left in the period.
The Blackhawks didn’t put a single shot on net during the Panthers’ 3-0 run.
Chicago’s best chance at a comeback came with 12:30 left in the game. The Blackhawks went on the power play for the fourth and final time, and put two more shots on Bobrovsky, but he turned both away. The goalie finished with 25 saves on 27 shots and saved all eight he faced on the penalty kill.
Twenty-nine second after the Blackhawks’ power play ended, Barkov scored his second goal off another assist by Duclair and one from Verhaeghe. Florida was headed for a fifth win in six games.
“They all played a part in all the goals that they scored,” Quenneville said. “They get reunited and have a big night.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2021 at 9:45 PM.
