The Luck of the Irish? Florida Panthers Game Recap — Game 28 vs. Chicago Blackhawks
Well folks, the Panthers have done it again. Each time they come back from multiple goals down to win I think to myself, “there is no way this can continue, this isn’t at all sustainable”. The Panthers continue to prove me wrong.
Florida gave up the game’s first goal for an astounding 19th time in 28 games tonight, as long-time Blackhawks Forward Patrick Kane would score off of a terrible turnover by Florida’s Anthony Duclair at 10:38 in the first period. David Kampf would be credited with an assist on the play. A miscommunication between Duclair and Florida Defenseman Mackenzie Weegar led to a collision between the two players deep in the Panthers zone, and the puck came squirting out to an open Kane who put the puck right under Bobrovsky into the net. Florida once again found themselves behind the 8-ball early on in a game.
A lot of back-and-forth play would ensue as the period was coming to a close, however with a little more than three and a half minutes remaining in the first period Aleksander Barkov would draw a tripping penalty from Blackhawks Defenseman Duncan Keith to give Florida an opportunity to tie the game up on the Power Play. On a podcast that myself and a couple other Panthers fans host (StatsNCats on Spotify), we have been SCREAMING for Coach Joel Quenneville to give rookie sharp-shooter Owen Tippett some valuable Power Play time. Tippett was drafted 10th overall back in 2017, and was highly touted as having one of the best shots in the draft. I mention all of this because at 18:15, on the power play, Tippett would tie up the game with assists from Gustav Forsling and Alex Wennberg. Perhaps it was the Luck of the Irish from the St. Patrick’s Day edition jerseys that the Panthers warmed up in pre-game, but Tippett definitely received a couple fortuitous bounces off a couple Blackhawks Defensemen. In this league sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. The Panthers would go into the first intermission tied at 1.
It was very tough sledding for Florida for most of the second period. Chicago would put pressure on the Cats to mount another comeback victory, as Philipp Kurashev would score his seventh of the season at 10:19 to put the Blackhawks up 2–1. Mattias Janmark and Calvin de Haan would be credited with assists on the play. Not to be outdone though, Chicago’s Brandon Hagel would score his third of the season less than three minutes later to put the Blackhawks ahead 3–1 with about seven minutes remaining in the second period. Dominik Kubalik and Duncan Keith would notch assists on the Hagel goal. Florida had dug themselves a pretty deep hole that they would need to pull themselves out from.
Florida would receive a break in the form of Aaron Ekblad drawing a tripping penalty from Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat with about six minutes remaining in the second period. Florida would capitalize on this Power Play opportunity as Ekblad himself would score on a wicked wrist-shot for his 10th of the season to bring the Panthers within a goal. Ekblad would set a Panthers franchise record as the fastest Defenseman to record 10 goals on the season, doing so in just 28 games. Keith Yandle and Jonathan Huberdeau would receive assists on the Ekblad goal.
The Panthers, as they typically do, start to show some passion as they are mounting yet another comeback. They continue to ride this wave of momentum, and they get the all-important game-tying goal 1:02 later as Defenseman Gustav Forsling would record his first goal as a member of the Panthers with assists coming from the captain Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe. The Cats have done it once again. They battle back to tie the game at 3, and go into the second intermission with their heads held high knowing that they had another victory well within their reach.
There would be some back-and-forth action throughout most of the third period, although Chicago would receive a Power Play opportunity off of a tripping penalty to Jonathan Huberdeau. Chicago’s Matthew Highmore was the victim on this particular play. The Panthers however would not be denied a victory on this night, as Aleksander Barkov would record the Panthers’ first short-handed goal of the season after a fantastic defensive showing in front of Bobrovsky’s net. Noel Acciari and Mackenzie Weegar would get the assists on this eventual game winning goal. The Panthers have battled all the way back, scoring three unanswered goals to take a 4–3 lead against Chicago late in the third period.
Chicago would have a hard time creating chances after that back-breaking short-handed goal, and would pull the goalie in favor of an extra attacker with about two and a half minutes remaining in the game. Not too much longer after Chicago pulled the goalie, Carter Verhaeghe would score his 11th goal of the season into the empty net with an assist coming from Barkov (his third point of the night). Florida would take a 5–3 lead with 1:44 remaining. Chicago would attempt to pull the goalie again to get some offense going, and it was unsuccessful as Alex Wennberg would into the empty net for his sixth goal of the season with assists from Jonathan Huberdeau (24) and Patric Hornqvist (12). The final horn would sound, and Florida would secure their fourth straight victory. Florida would score five unanswered goals after being down 3–1 to eventually win the game 6–3 over Chicago. Bobrovsky didn’t have his best game, as he stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced for an .897 save percentage. The Panthers would give Bob enough offensive support to secure the victory, and Bob did make a couple key saves when the Panthers needed him to.
The Three Stars from tonight’s game:
- Aleksander Barkov (FLA): 1 goal (GWG Short-Handed), 2 assists
- Gustav Forsling (FLA): 1 goal, 1 assist
- Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA): 3 GA, 26 saves, .897 sv%
The Panthers will be taking this four game winning streak into a two-game series versus the Nashville Predators starting on Thursday night, the 18th, at 7 p.m. Eastern. Florida is 3–0–1 versus the Predators so far this season.
