The Kevin Lankinen Show! Florida Panthers Game Recap — Game 33 @ Chicago Blackhawks:
The Panthers couldn’t buy a goal in tonight’s bout with the Chicago Blackhawks, as Kevin Lankinen stopped all 41 shots he faced against Florida. Florida went with Sergei Bobrovsky in net for tonight’s matchup.
Florida would once again be without their top player, and team captain, Aleksander Barkov as he is currently recovering from a Lower Body Injury. Florida appeared to get into a groove late in the previous game against Chicago on Tuesday without Barkov, however tonight was a different story beyond the first period.
Florida would come out of the gate strong, putting some good pressure on Blackhawks’ goaltender Kevin Lankinen. Florida out-shot the Blackhawks 13–7 over the course of the period, and seemed to be adapting to a game style that didn’t rely on the strong play of Barkov to succeed. Barkov provides so much to the success of this Panthers team, especially in the puck possession and forechecking aspects of the game. Playing without Barkov has allowed the Blackhawks to drive play as they please, and the Panthers haven’t been able to establish any meaningful possession within the Blackhawks zone. Despite that, the Panthers would head into the first intermission tied at zero with Chicago.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, from the second period onwards it was going to be an uphill battle to earn a win. Chicago would jump out to a 1–0 lead early on in the period, as Patrick Kane would score on the Power Play at 1:05 for his 13th goal of the season, assisted by Carl Soderberg (8) and Brandon Hagel (9). Less than three minutes later, at 3:34 in the period, Chicago Blackhawks’ forward Pius Suter would extend Chicago’s lead after Bobrovsky’s save on a shot by Alex DeBrincat would rebound right to Suter. Suter would corral the puck, and put it into a near empty net to extend Chicago’s lead to 2–0. DeBrincat (17) and Patrick Kane (33) would be credited with assists on the goal. Florida would not take this loss lying down however, as they would try anything and everything to get a puck past Lankinen. Florida out-shot Chicago 17–9 in the second period, but Chicago would take the 2–0 lead into the second intermission.
The third period was a masterful display of playing with a lead by the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were smothering the Panthers through the neutral zone, and failed to allow sustained possession for the Panthers within the Chicago zone. This time of the game is when the Panthers were really hurting without Barkov out there, because what Barkov does best for this team is control the puck and apply pressure to opposing defenses. Chicago was hardly pressed while within their zone, and did a great job of not allowing Florida to get any chances in tight in front of Lankinen’s net. Florida was unable to win key board battles to maintain offensive possession, and the best chances that Florida would get would be shots from the outer perimeter that were easy saves for Lankinen to make. Florida would attempt to pull Bobrovsky to the bench in favor of an extra attacker with about two minutes left in the game, but again the Panthers were unable to maintain meaningful possession of the puck. Brandon Hagel would salt the game away by scoring an empty-netter at 18:36 in the period for his fourth goal of the season to up the score to 3–0 in favor of the Blackhawks. Connor Murphy would be credited with his seventh assist of the season on the empty-netter.
The final horn would sound, and Florida would leave the two-game series in Chicago with back-to-back losses, a very tough pill to swallow as they continue this road trip. To make matters worse for Florida, Patric Hornqvist was injured about five minutes into the third period after taking a dangerous hit up high by Chicago’s Nikita Zadorov. He would not return to tonight’s game, and his status is currently “day-to-day”. Hornqvist has been a revelation for this young Panthers squad, and his leadership is definitely going to be missed if he is forced to sit out any games going forward. This Panthers team has yet to face adversity like this so far this season, so the next few games are going to be very telling as to how far this team has the capability of going this season.
The Three Stars from tonight’s game:
- Kevin Lankinen, G (CHI): 41 saves on 41 shots, SO, W
- Patrick Kane, RW (CHI): 1 goal, 1 assist
- Pius Suter, C (CHI): 1 goal
Florida will have a couple more tough games to close out this road-trip, as they play again on Saturday, the 27th, in Dallas against the Stars. That game will start at 8 p.m. ET, and will be the first of a two-game set against the Stars. Hopefully Hornqvist and Barkov are okay, and will be able to suit up for those matchups. The team will really need them.
