Not much happened for a while Sunday night at the United Center. The Chicago Blackhawks hosted the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, whom they opened the season against, and neither team could gain an advantage for two periods.
But the Panthers (28-20-3) scored four unanswered goals in the third period for a 5-1 victory, ending a three-game point streak for the Hawks (21-23-8) and making the box score uglier than the game action.
“It wasn’t a good enough third period for sure, (and) there have been times when we’ve had really good thirds,” Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “This is how it’s going to be if we want to be a good team.”
The shots, scoring chances, forechecks and goalie saves were neck and neck through two periods. Defenseman Tobias Björnfot put the Panthers on the board first with a goal that squeaked past Spencer Knight (20 saves in 24 chances) at 15:33 in the second period.
Tyler Bertuzzi sounded the horn for the 25th time this season with 30 seconds to spare in the second, ending the period with the score tied at 1.
It may not have been a playoff atmosphere, but it was a postseason type of game. The Panthers have had a lot of those, so it was the Hawks’ turn to see how they handled the pressure.
Having not lost a playoff series since the 2023 Stanley Cup Final gives Florida the confidence to handle these situations — the confidence the young Hawks are looking to build.
“It’s the learning curve for us as a young team, understanding how to build your confidence and who we are,” captain Nick Foligno said. “Sometimes as a young player — and even us as older players — you get a little bored with it because it’s not breaking, it’s not happening and you don’t trust that it’s going to happen. That’s just because we don’t have experience.”
Column: Random thoughts on a budding Chicago sports bromance and other hot topics
Knight saw a second puck slide behind him in slow motion at 5:22 in the third, with defenseman Wyatt Kaiser inches away from stopping right wing Mackie Samoskevich’s goal. The Hawks lost all momentum from that point, as Carter Verhaeghe (7:24), Sam Reinhart (18:11, empty net) and Björnfot (19:38) added salt to the wound.
“When something goes wrong, it’s still understanding we have to keep making plays and keep playing our game,” Kaiser said. “There’s a fine line between being very simple and also having poise with the puck, clean breakouts, making plays through the neutral zone, when to dump it in.”
It’s a tale of two faces when it comes to the Hawks special teams.
The Hawks still own the NHL’s best penalty kill (85.5%) after killing defenseman Louis Crevier’s hooking penalty. On the other hand, they’re 16th in the league in power-play success (20.5%).
That percentage is rapidly dropping because the Hawks are goalless in their last 18 man advantages. Shots aren’t flying as they should be, and the chemistry seems to be off in that area.
“I don’t think our breakouts have been very good, probably our breakouts and retrievals haven’t been good enough,” said Blashill, who mentioned a power-play confidence hit before Sunday’s game. “Ultimately, we have to break the puck in better and we have to win more loose puck recoveries.”
The Panthers showed the up-and-coming Hawks what it takes to be a championship-level team. The Hawks will take the gut punch of a lesson in stride.
“They’re really confident in who they are and the way they play, so they know that over time they’re going to break you down or get those opportunities,” Foligno said. “It’s a good lesson for us. If there’s anything you can take away from this game, (it’s) how you have to stay with it (like) how championship teams do it.”
The United Center had a purple tint as the Hawks held their annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. Cancer survivors were honored, including a kid named Drew, who rang the bell in front of 19,313 fans to celebrate the end of his treatment.
Included in the honors was former Hawks center Troy Murray, who announced his cancer diagnosis on Aug. 9, 2021. He played the first 12 years of his career with the Hawks — scoring 488 points (197 goals, 291 assists) and winning the Selke Trophy in the 1985-86 season — and is currently the Hawks color analyst on WGN-AM 720.
“With the love and support of my family, friends, the Wirtz family, the Chicago Blackhawks organization and WGN Radio, I’m confident that together we will beat this,” Murray said in a 2021 statement.
WGN Hawks studio host Charlie Roumeliotis, CHSN and TNT analyst Darren Pang and others held up their light purple “I fight for” signs with different variations of Murray’s name. The United Center crowd held a standing ovation in support of Murray during a tribute video.