Yandle Celebrates Career Game #1000! Florida Panthers Game Recap — Game 27 vs. Chicago Blackhawks:
A pre-game ceremony was held before tonight’s game vs. the Blackhawks to honor Keith Yandle for reaching the 1,000 career NHL games played milestone. Yandle had played in his 1,000th career NHL game against the Columbus Blue Jackets last Tuesday night, but since that game was played in Columbus, Yandle was being honored tonight as it was his first game in front of the home crowd since then. Yandle was also honored by his teammates who wore customized “Yandle 1000” jerseys during the pre-game warm-up.
The first period of tonight’s game was a preverbal shooting gallery by the Blackhawks against Panthers net-minder Sergei Bobrovsky. The Blackhawks out-shot the Panthers in the first period 14–6, however Bobrovsky stood tall and stopped all 14 shots he faced in the period. The Panthers would go into the first intermission in a 0–0 tie with Chicago.
Chicago would ride the wave of pressure from the first period into the start of the second period, as Brandon Hagel would score 28 seconds in with assists from Dominik Kubalik and David Kampf. The Panthers found themselves in an all-too-familiar spot once again, as they gave up the first goal of the game for the 18th time in 27 games this season. The Panthers would need to mount a comeback again to secure points in the standings. A lot of play back-and-forth would commence, until the Panthers’ captain pulls through and gets one past Chicago goaltender Kevin Lankinen 7:46 into the period.
A little more than three minutes later Carter Verhaeghe would also get his 10th of season to put the Panthers ahead 2–1 over Chicago. Verhaeghe had been on a bit of a scoring drought, but has now scored his third goal over the past six games.
The Panthers would not be satisfied in simply taking the lead, as 1:19 later Frank Vatrano would get HIS 10th goal of the season (noticing a trend here?) to put the Cats ahead 3–1 over the Blackhawks. Owen Tippett would feed Vatrano in the low-slot with a beautiful back-handed pass from behind the Blackhawks’ net. Barkov, Verhaeghe, and Vatrano would all score their 10th goal of the season in this second period. They now join Jonathan Huberdeau and Patric Hornqvist as Panthers to score double-digit goals this season.
The second period would come to a close as Bobrovsky would fight off a late push by Chicago, and the Panthers would go into the second intermission with a 3–1 lead.
The third period would be a little bit of a back-and-forth between the teams, however the Panthers were doing a good job of playing with the lead. Chicago wasn’t able to get any sustained pressure on Bobrovsky, and he was making the saves that he needed to be making. Aleksander Barkov would put even more pressure on this young Blackhawks team by scoring his second goal of the game 10:01 into the third period to put the Panthers ahead 4–1 in the game.
Chicago would score their second goal of the game late in the third period, as Adam Boqvist would score his 2nd of the season with assists coming from Duncan Keith (9) and Patrick Kane (30). Chicago only had 1:32 left in the game to score two goals and force overtime. They would pull their goalie to get the extra attacker, but it was unsuccessful as the final period would end before they could score again. The Panthers would secure their 18th win of the season, and move into a tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Central Division with 40 points (Tampa still has a game in-hand).
A very solid performance tonight from Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, as he stopped 30 out of 32 Chicago shots for a .938 save percentage. Bobrovsky now has an 11–2–2 record on the season, and over his last 7 starts has a .921 save percentage and a 2.71 Goals Against Average (GAA). He is building up his confidence, and is starting to play the Vezina-level goaltending that the team expected of him when they signed him to his massive contract over last summer. It was a dominant win for the Panthers (despite giving up the first goal of the game again), and they continue to build on an absolutely amazing season.
The Three Stars from tonight’s game were:
- Aleksander Barkov (2 goals, 1 assist)
- Anthony Duclair (2 assists)
- Sergei Bobrovsky (30 saves on 32 shots in the win)
The Panthers will play the Blackhawks again in Florida on Monday night the 15th. That game will start at 7 p.m. EDT (Don’t forget to adjust your clocks tonight!)
