Aleksander Barkov, who will be Finland's captain at the 4 Nations Face-Off, had two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves.
"The guys work hard and play tight defensively and give us a good opportunity offensively as well," said Bobrovsky, who has allowed one goal in his past two starts after shutting out the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 on Wednesday. "It's fun to be there, fun to play with this team."
Landon Slaggert scored, and Petr Mrazek made 39 saves for the Blackhawks (16-31-5).
Ryan Donato won the opening face-off and pushed the puck forward into the Florida zone. Slaggert chased it down and beat Bobrovsky 5-hole for a 1-0 lead seven seconds into the game. It was the quickest game-opening goal in Blackhawks history.
"I was just focused on getting some pressure on their defensemen and the puck just squirted to an area. I saw I could get to it first," Slaggert said. "I just caught a break, and it ended up working out. Donato said in the pile that it might be the fastest so that's kind of funny to hear. It's pretty wild. Happened pretty quick."
For the Panthers, it was a quick wakeup call.
"Sometimes it gets you out of wading into a game," Maurice said. "We were pretty good after that. Strong first period for us. Pretty good start to finish."
Florida took a 2-1 lead into the second after outshooting the Blackhawks 22-4 in the first period and holding a 47-9 advantage in shot attempts.