Chicago Blackhawks escape with a 3-2 victory against the Florida Panthers in a shootout, taking the first game of the road trip on the fathers trip.
Corey Crawford had a busy first period and looked really sharp during it stopping all 15 Florida shots, who had great chances, in the first period.
Nice to see Jamal Mayers add some energy early in the game, once again. He didn’t like a hit that was put on him by Matt Bradley, immediately got up and dropped the gloves. Mayers won that battle and it wasn’t even close as Bradley couldn’t even get a whack in.
Jonathan Toews was credited with the Blackhawks first goal a little over 4 minutes into the first period after Andrew Brunette placed a shot on goal that went off the skate of Toews and into the back of the net.
Marian Hossa scored his 6th goal in 9 games to put Chicago up 2-0 early in the second period. Patrick Kane picked up the assist for his team-leading 8th of the season.
Stephen Weiss cut the lead in half under 2 minutes left in the period finding the puck in the crease and tapping it past Crawford.
After it looked like the Blackhawks were ready to leave Florida with a win, Ed Jovanovski tips a puck thrown on net by Kris Versteeg tying the game at 2 with less than 2 minutes left in regulation.
No scoring in overtime led to a shootout where Patrick Kane slid home the only goal for both teams and obviously the game-winner making it his second game-deciding shootout goal this year and 8th in his career which is now a franchise record.
High quality scoring chances for Florida throughout the entire game, but Corey Crawford arguably played his best game of the season and shut the door on any chance the Panthers had. Both goaltenders played incredible and have to credit to rookie Jacob Markstrom for a solid performance against one of the better teams in the NHL.
NOTES
*Corey Crawford stopped 41 of 43 tonight (.953 save %) on top of saving all 3 shots he faced in the shootout.
*Brent Seabrook led the Blackhawks in ice time with a season high 31:55 TOI. Despite a -2 rating, he also led all skaters with 5 blocked shots.
*Andrew Brunette got back on the score sheet with an assist; finished with a +2 rating.
*Power Play: 0-for-1; Season: 4-for-46
*Penalty Kill: 1-for-1; Season: 36-for-39
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Blackhawks and their fathers don’t have to travel very far as they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow night to wrap up the road trip; puck drop at 6:00pm CT!
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