Eller scores late, lifts Panthers past Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Lars Eller broke a tie with 2:23 remaining in the third period to lift the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

Eller skated into the offensive zone while the Blackhawks were changing lines and snapped a wrist shot from the right face-off circle past Spencer Knight. It was Eller's first goal in 12 games this season. 

“Yeah, I stayed out there, too, because I saw they were all changing and maybe we could get a bit of a chance on a tight angle,” Eller said. “Actually it opened up a little more than I thought, and I took the chance. I probably wasn’t going to get a better look than that, so I just fired and it went in.

“It’s a good feeling to get on the board, and certainly when it helps your team get two points. That does feel good.”

Sandis Vilmanis and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for the Panthers (6-4-2), who had lost the first two of their four-game road trip by a combined score of 9-1. Akira Schmid made 19 saves.

“Just mentally I tried to really stay dialed in for a full 60 minutes,” Schmid said. “The last couple of games, there were times when they’d go in, there would be a late goal that goes in. so I just tried to focus on that.”

Ryan Greene and Roman Kantserov scored, and Knight made 30 saves for the Blackhawks (3-8-0), who went 0-for-7 on the power play and have scored three goals over three straight losses.

“There’s going to be frustration; we’re 3-8,” said forward and captain Connor Bedard. “If there’s no frustration, that’s even worse than too much frustration. But you got to use that in the next game and try to dig ourselves out. I think when you play with that edge, you play a little better. If we can do that the rest of the year, that’d be great.”

Greene gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 2:34 of the first period. Andrew Mangiapane collected the puck behind the net and made a quick backhand pass to Greene, who scored on a forehand shot for his first goal in 11 games this season.

Vilmanis tied it 1-1 at 6:49 on a redirection of a shot by Sam Reinhart for his first goal this season in 11 games.

Tkachuk gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 14:21, just five seconds into a power play. Seth Jones’ shot from the high slot deflected into the net off Tkachuk’s body, ending his six-game goal drought.

The Panthers outshot the Blackhawks 15-6 in the first.

“The first period was the first period we started to look fast offensively again,” said Florida coach Paul Maurice. “We got on the forecheck and we spent some time. We got more pucks to the net from the slot tonight than we have possibly this year. So still not quite there but a step in the right direction for us.”

Kantserov tied it 2-2 at 11:15 of the second period. Patrick Kane fed the puck out from the goal line to Kantserov, who scored on a wrist shot from the right circle.

“I think the power play is kind of mirroring our 5-on-5 game, like we can't score,” said Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill. “I can’t sit here and say to you we don’t get any chances. I think we do. Power plays are funny animals. It can be either (bad) power plays that score or good power plays (that don’t). I’m not saying we had great power plays. I’m not saying that. We’re going to go back and look at the film and say, ‘Was the process good enough or not?’ Based on that, we’ll decide if there’s tweaks.”

NOTES: Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe played in his 500th NHL game … Brady Tkachuk assisted on Matthew Tkachuk’s goal, the eighth time they’ve combined on the same goal, the most by any pair of Panthers teammates this season … Kane recorded his 898th career assist. He can become the 21st player in NHL history — and first American skater — to compile 900 assists.