The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will try to escape their first mini-slump of the season when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Florida is 1-3-0 in its past four games, including its 6-3 road loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. After two straight losses, the Panthers appeared to have things clicking again with their dominant 5-0 shutout of the Jets on Saturday.
However, Winnipeg rebounded by scoring the first three goals in the rematch. The Panthers twice pulled within one goal, but they couldn’t complete the comeback.
“Every time we felt we were getting closer there, (Winnipeg) just put one in and got the momentum right back,” Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “It was an even game for the most part. It’s tough to lose that one when you fight back to get close.”
The Panthers now face the Blackhawks and their NHL-low 13 points. Chicago is 1-5-0 in its past six games and has lost three straight.
The Blackhawks led the visiting Anaheim Ducks 2-1 through 45 minutes on Tuesday, but Chicago’s late-game struggles emerged again. The Ducks scored the equalizer and go-ahead goal within a span of 4:28 in the third period.
The Blackhawks have been outscored 26-15 in third periods this season.
“(It’s) definitely frustrating,” said Chicago forward Jason Dickinson, who scored twice against Anaheim. “We’ve been in a lot of these games. We could easily be coming out of a lot of these with wins. … At the end of the day, we’ve got to go out and do it.”
Beyond just the late concessions, Dickinson noted that the Blackhawks are getting outscored in general. Chicago is last in the league in goals (44) and average goals per game (2.32).
Connor Bedard leads the Blackhawks with 15 points (three goals, 12 assists), though the reigning Calder Trophy winner hasn’t scored a goal in his past 10 games.
Chicago also took a hit with its announcement Wednesday that top defenseman Seth Jones will miss four weeks after he suffered a right foot injury.
Jones, 30, was placed on injured reserve on Saturday. He may have been hurt while blocking a shot in Chicago’s 3-1 loss to Seattle Kraken on Nov. 14, coach Luke Richardson told reporters on Wednesday.
Jones — who has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 17 games this season — leads all Chicago skaters in ice time per game at 25:43.
Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers with 29 points and 14 goals, and is tied for the team lead with 15 assists. He’s fourth in the league in points.
Seventeen of Reinhart’s points (nine goals, eight assists) have come during his current 11-game point streak. A point on Thursday would tie Reinhart for the fifth-longest points streak in Panthers franchise history.
Aleksander Barkov has also amassed 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) over a nine-game point streak.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky followed up his 27-save shutout over the Jets by allowing four goals on 25 shots on Tuesday. Bobrovsky has a modest .895 save percentage and 3.00 goals against average over his past six starts, so Florida could give Bobrovsky a breather by starting backup goalie Spencer Knight against Chicago.
Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek wasn’t available to face Anaheim due to a personal matter, so backup Arvid Soderblom got the start. Soderblom will presumably start again Thursday if Mrazek is still absent, as the Blackhawks likely wouldn’t have rookie backup Drew Commesso make his NHL debut against the high-powered Panthers offense.
Florida is 12-4-1 in its past 17 games against Chicago, dating back to the 2018-19 season.
–Field Level Media