*Photo from AP News*
The Chicago Blackhawks needed a win. On a night celebrating Patrick Kane's 1000 game milestone, the setting was perfect. They delivered. Kane dished out two assists, 3 different Blackhawks added goals, and the Blackhawks outlasted a late comeback bid by the Florida Panthers to grab a 3-2 win Tuesday night.
Dominik Kubalik started the scoring for the Blackhawks 6:24 into the game, with his 11th goal of the season to make it 1-0 Chicago. With 1:30 left in the opening period, Pius Suter scored his 9th of the year to extend the lead to 2-0. 4:22 into the second period, Carl Soderberg scored a power play goal to widen the lead to 3-0. 4:31 after Soderberg scored, Anton Stralman got the Panthers on the board to make it 3-1. In the 3rd, Alex Wennberg scored to cut it to 3-2, but they couldn't muster another goal.
Kane said of the Blackhawks play that "We did a good job of coming out strong and kind of took over the game to get it to 3-0. Obviously would like to kill the game a little bit more, but nice to hang on against a team that's pretty good at coming back in games and puts a lot of pressure on you."
Kevin Lankinen got the start in net for the Blackhawks, and posted a solid outing, earning the win. Lankinen stopped 33 shots out of 35 that came his way, continuing his strong rookie season. His record improves to 11-7-4 with the victory, while Chicago improves to 15-13-5 this season, 4th in the Central Division.
Lankinen said of the win that "It was big for me, it was big for the team and it was big for Kaner, too. Just in general, we wanted to have a good start for this homestand, come out strong, and we did that. Had a really big start and got a couple goals and obviously brought home the win, too, which is nice. It was huge, for sure."
On the other side, backup Chris Driedger started for the Panthers, getting hit with the loss this time around. Driedger stopped 29 shots out of 32 that came his way in the loss. Driedger's record fell to 8-4-2 this season after the loss, while Florida still holds playoff position, sitting in 3rd in the Central, just ahead of Chicago, with a 20-8-4 record this season.
Panthers forward Noel Acciari said of the loss that "I think we just had a bit of a slow start and kind of dug ourselves a bit of a hole. I liked our end of the second [period] and most of the third. We didn't give up. We played until the buzzer. I think we've got to figure out how to come out with a stronger start."
The Panthers and Blackhawks rematch on Thursday night, with Sergei Bobrovsky starting in goal for the Panthers, while Lankinen looks to start again for Chicago.
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