The Florida Panthers took care of business on Saturday afternoon in Sunrise.
Hosting the lowly Chicago Blackhawks, Florida didn’t let an early speedbump impede their path to victory, skating to a resounding 5-1 win.
Florida was given a wake-up call right off the opening face-off when Landon Slaggert got behind the Cats’ defenders.
The rookie’s second NHL goal gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead just seven seconds into the game.
It was all Panthers after that.
By the five-minute mark, Florida had seven shots on 16 attempts while holding Chicago to their only shot attempt on the opening shift.
A scrum in front of Chicago’s net at the 5:28 mark led to Jonah Gadjovich poking the puck past Petr Mrazek, but the Blackhawks challenged the play for goalie interference after A.J. Greer was pushed into Mrazek, but the call on the ice stood.
Florida’s second goal came on a great shift by the top line, which had been dominant in the early stages of the game.
Sasha Barkov fed the puck to the front of the net, where Sam Reinhart found it through a maze of skates and sticks and scored underneath Mrazek to give the Cats their first lead of the game.
Chicago game out a bit more motivated during the middle fame, keeping play somewhat even and the score at 2-1 for much of the frame.
It wasn’t until Florida was given a power play late in the period that Matthew Tkachuk was able to deflect home a shot by Reinhart to expand the Cats’ lead to two.
That goal came with 3:31 to go in the middle frame.
It took only ten seconds once the third period began for Florida to expand their lead even further.
Anton Lundell dug the puck free from behind Mrazek’s net and fed Evan Rodrigues in front for his 12th goal of the season.
Florida expanded their lead once again about midway through the period thanks to a Carter Verhaeghe power play goal, making it 5-1 Florida.
Next up for the Cats, they host their latest back-to-back Sunday.
On to the Islanders.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Gadjovich hadn’t played since Dec. 20 in St. Louis, a span of 18 games, while recovering from an injury.
The goal was Gadjo’s first since Opening Night against Boston.
Reinhart’s goal was his 30th of the season and third over his past six games.
Barkov has six points over his past six games after picking up a pair of helpers Saturday afternoon.
Aaron Ekblad has four points in the four games he’s played since returning from an undisclosed injury.
Tkachuk has now scored in consecutive games and in three of his past four overall. He also has eight points over his past four games.
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