Duclair scores three points, Panthers hold off Blackhawks
Florida wins third straight; Lankinen makes 37 saves for Chicago
By
Brandon Cain / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
"I guess the puck is just finding me," Duclair said. "We're making more plays, obviously chemistry has been a huge factor with the new additions we had come into the lineup. Things are clicking, not only me, but obviously the whole team. It's nice to see."
Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling each had a goal and an assist, and Sam Bennett had two assists for the Panthers (34-14-5), who have won three straight and swept the two-game set. Florida won 4-3 in overtime here Thursday. Sergei Bobrovksy made 31 saves.
The Panthers remained two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for first place in the Discover Central Division and are two points ahead of the third-place Tampa Bay Lightning. The Blackhawks are eight points behind the Nashville Predators for the last of four Stanley Cup Playoff berths from the division.
"You can look at the standings, you look at this and some nights you're going to say, you've still got some games left to be played before we're playing for keeps," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. "These guys, they're continuing on with good habits and good purpose, being great pros, good leadership, and it sends a good message to some of the younger guys as well."
Alex DeBrincat had a goal and an assist, and Kevin Lankinen made 37 saves for the Blackhawks (22-23-6), who have lost four in a row.
"We gave up far too much," Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. "I thought we turned the puck over, fed their transition, they're an excellent transition team. They make you pay when you turn it over. I also thought they jumped by us in transition a lot and created a lot from that."
Duclair has a three-game goal streak and seven points (four goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak.
"He's playing well," Quenneville said. "He has some speed, had a couple of pretty plays there. I thought that line played good, [Barkov] had a real good game, I think [Grigori Denisenko] is coming along nicely. They were effective in some other ways as well. [Duclair], it was one of those nights where he had the puck a lot in some interesting places."
Duclair skated around Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk and behind the net, then cut to the middle and took a wrist shot for a 1-0 lead at 7:54 of the first period.
Nikita Gusev made it 2-0 at 2:30 of the second period when he tucked a backhand between Lankinen's legs. Connor Murphy cut it to 2-1 at 15:19 with a shot from the point on the power play. DeBrincat redirected Adam Gaudette's centering pass to tie it 2-2 at 16:11.
"It was good help by [Brett Connolly] on the draw, and obviously a great shot by [Murphy] there and it went in," Gaudette said. "There was a little bit of confusion on the second one in our zone and saw an opportunity to skate, had a move there, saw [DeBrincat] out of the corner of my eye and it was a good finish by him."
Barkov finished a 2-on-1 with Forsling with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle for a 3-2 lead with 7 seconds remaining in the second. Duclair tucked a shot behind Lankinen's left leg 28 seconds into the third period to make it 4-2. Owen Tippett made it 5-2 at 59 seconds when he received Bennett's pass from behind the net and scored from the slot.
Kirby Dach cut it to 5-3 at 12:28 when he redirected Philipp Kurashev's centering pass from below the goal line on the power play. Dominik Kubalik scored with a one-timer from the right circle with 18 seconds remaining for the 5-4 final.
"We had a really good start for the third period," Barkov said. "We scored goals in the first two shifts and kind of put the game away. But obviously they're a good team there, they have some skill, they battled back and gave a good run at the end. But we just closed it out and tried to play our own game the whole third period."
NOTES: Bennett has scored 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in nine games since he was traded to the Panthers from the Calgary Flames on April 12. He scored 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 38 games with Calgary this season. ... Gaudette had two assists and has scored four points (one goal, two assists) in three games with the Blackhawks since he was traded by the Vancouver Canucks on April 12. ... Blackhawks forward Brandon Hagel had an assist to give him eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past eight games. ... Chicago defenseman Ian Mitchell had an assist and three blocked shots in 15:16 of ice time in his first game since April 17.
