Panthers 3, Blackhawks 2: Eller's late wrist shot beats Chicago
Lars Eller scored with 2:23 left as Florida ended a two-game slide and Chicago lost a third straight.
Lars Eller's wrist shot from the right face-off circle with 2:23 remaining in the third period gave the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Sunday. Florida improved to 6-4-2; Chicago fell to 3-8-0 and has lost three straight.
Scoring
Ryan Greene put Chicago ahead 2:34 into the game on a forehand shot, set up by a backhand pass from Andrew Mangiapane. Florida tied it at 6:49 when Sandis Vilmanis redirected a Sam Reinhart shot for his first goal of the season. Matthew Tkachuk made it 2-1 at 14:21, scoring five seconds into a power play when a Seth Jones shot from the high slot deflected off him; Brady Tkachuk assisted. It ended a six-game goal drought for Matthew Tkachuk, according to NHL.com.
Roman Kantserov tied the game 2-2 in the second period at 11:15 with a wrist shot from the right circle, fed by Patrick Kane from the goal line. Eller then decided it late, skating in while Chicago was changing lines. "I probably wasn't going to get a better look than that, so I just fired and it went in," he said.
Goaltending and special teams
Akira Schmid made 19 saves for Florida and Spencer Knight made 30 for Chicago. Florida outshot the Blackhawks 15-6 in the first period, per NHL.com. The Blackhawks went 0-for-7 on the power play. Chicago's coach said, "Power plays are funny animals."
Context
Florida had lost the first two games of a four-game road trip by a combined 9-1, so the win steadies a trip that had started badly. Florida's coach described the offence as "still not quite there but a step in the right direction for us."
For Chicago, the frustration is in the record. Captain Connor Bedard said, "There's going to be frustration; we're 3-8." The Blackhawks have scored three goals across their three straight losses, NHL.com notes, and seven failed power plays in a one-goal game will be the part of this one they replay.
A few milestones: Carter Verhaeghe played his 500th NHL game, and Patrick Kane recorded his 898th career assist, four short of 900. The Tkachuk brothers have combined on eight goals, the most by any Panthers teammates this season.