5 Takeaways: Panthers Defeat Blackhawks, Move Into First Place

SUNRISE, Fla. - Well, things couldn't look much better at the halfway point.
With a 6-3 win over the Blackhawks at BB&T Center on Monday, the Panthers find themselves sitting in first place in the Central Division with 28 games down and 28 left to go in their season.
At 19-5-4, Florida's 42 points are also tied for the most in the entire NHL at the moment.

"An excellent first half," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said after the team rallied to earn its fourth straight win. "A lot of positives. Almost all positives when we evaluate the competitiveness of our team, playing the right way and staying composed from start to finish in these games.
"We're getting balance in our four lines, we're getting deep in our back end, the goaltending's been outstanding. You couldn't say enough good things, but at the same time we want to get better as we go along here. It's a pretty high standard to start with, but let's look to achieve that."
Clawing back to claim victory once again, that composure was on full display against Chicago.
Although the Panthers were clearly the aggressors early on, the Blackhawks ended up striking first when Patrick Kane took advantage of a giveaway in the offensive zone and ripped a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky for his 12th goal of the season to make it 1-0 at 10:38 of the first period.
Pulling the Panthers even as the period started to wind down, Owen Tippett managed to beat Kevin Lankinen on the power play after his one-timer bounced off not one, but two Blackhawks before flying past the rookie goalie and into the cage to make it 1-1 with 1:45 left on the clock.
Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves, while Lankinen stopped 30 of 34 shots.
In the second period, Chicago regained the lead when Philipp Kurashev took a centering feed from Mattias Janmark and beat Bobrovsky with a one-timer from the low slot to make it 2-1 at 10:19. Soon after, Brandon Hagel added to that lead when he scored at 13:02 to make it 3-1.
Then, as we've already seen time and time again this season, the Panthers made their push.
Back on the power play, Aaron Ekblad trimmed the deficit down to one goal when he rifled a shot over Lankinen's glove from the center of the left circle to make it 3-2 at 14:58. Netting his first goal with the Cats, Gustav Forsling then buried a long shot to make it 3-3 just 1:02 later.
"It's not something we want to do, for sure," Ekblad chuckled when asked about the team's ability to erase deficits. "We've all been saying it lately how crazy it is that we can come back like that. We don't want to find ourselves in those positions, but sometimes it does happen."
Forced to kill off a pair of power plays late in the third period, the Panthers instead went on the attack while on the penalty kill. Following a shot from MacKenzie Weegar, Aleksander Barkov poked in the ensuing rebound for a shorthanded goal to make it 4-3 with 6:34 left in regulation.
Icing the game away, Carter Verhaeghe and Alex Wennberg then each cashed in on an empty net to lock in the 6-3 win for the Cats, who are now 12-4-3 when falling behind 1-0 this season.
"I think we're just a different team this year," Weegar said. "We've got a veteran presence in the room. We've matured a lot. We've had some tough years here not making the playoffs or just barely making it or whatever. We've taken a big, big step as a team. Not losing two in a row, keeping things positive, keeping it rolling, keeping it light around the room. I think we're just a different team this year, and the league's starting to notice that… It's fun to be in South Florida."
It certainly is, Weegs.
Here are five takeaways from Monday's win in Sunrise…

1. PINBALL WIZARD

The shortest way between two points is a straight line.
That being said, this goal took a far more scenic route.
With the Panthers on the power play late in the first period, Tippett took a pass from Forsling and, despite not having his footing, fired a hefty one-timer from the left circle that pinballed off a pair of Blackhawks before sailing past Lankinen and into the net to make it a 1-1 game at 18:15.

"I was just trying to get it to the net," Tippett said. "I know we had guys there. I shot it off-balance, but it ended up working out."
Starting to crack the scoresheet on a consistent basis, Tippett is now riding a career-high, four-game point streak after lighting the lamp against Chicago. During that hot stretch, the 22-year-old sniper has been filling up the back of the cage, accumulating three goals and one assist.

2. EKBLAD'S SNIPE

Ekblad is showing no signs of slowing down on the power play.
With the extra attacker on the ice in the second period, Ekblad took a pass from Keith Yandle - who made a great play to keep the puck in the zone - skated down into the center of the left circle and beat Lankinen with an incendiary snipe to cut Florida's deficit down to 3-2 at 14:58.

"Teams get momentum, and we did a good job swinging it back in our favor," Ekblad said.
Hitting the 10-goal plateau for the sixth time in seven seasons, Ekblad currently ranks second among NHL defensemen in goals (10) and first in power-play goals (6). With plenty of games left on the schedule, his six goals on the man advantage have already matched a career-high.
Needing just 28 games to score 10 goals, no Panthers blueliner has ever hit that mark faster.

3. FORSLING'S FIRST

Forsling was finally rewarded tonight.
After earning a lot of praise from Quenneville for his two-way play this season, the 24-year-old defensemen netted his first goal in a Panthers sweater in the second period, wiring a long shot through heavy traffic and past a screened Lankinen to tie the game 3-3 at the 16-minute mark.

"I'm glad that one went in," Forsling said. "I had a couple that have been very close, so real good to get the first one."
Claimed off waivers from the Hurricanes back in early January, Forsling has quickly carved out a regular role for himself on the blue line in South Florida. Despite missing a few games due to injuries, he's managed to post one goal, three assists and 33 shots through 15 games played.

4. POWER ON THE PK

When the Blackhawks arrived in Sunrise, they owned one of the top power plays in the NHL.
After two games against the Panthers, they've now dipped down a couple percentage points.
Following up on a 4-for-4 performance during Saturday's 4-2 win, the Cats were perfect once again on the penalty kill tonight, going 4-for-4 while surrendering just four shots on goal. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Chicago's power play also mustered only seven shot attempts tonight.
"Our special teams were excellent," Quenneville said.
Backed into a corner, the Panthers also picked the perfect time to score their first shorthanded goal of the season. On the penalty kill in the third period, Barkov jammed home a rebound after a shot from Weegar to give Florida its first lead of the night at 4-3 with just 6:34 left on the clock.

Right in the thick of the mid-season conversation for both the Hart and Selke Trophies, Barkov leads the Panthers in goals (12) and is tied with Jonathan Huberdeau for the most points (34).
"We knew coming in that they had a pretty good power play," Weegar said. "We had a lot of penalty kills tonight, maybe a little too many, but in the third period we did a great job. The vision on Barky to see me there is pretty incredible. We did the job. [Bobrovsky], again, has been incredible. It's nice that the PK could step up in a big way these last two games."
After the game, Barkov's teammates like Weegar and Bobrovsky showered him with praise.
Barkov, of course, gave it right back.
"It means I have the best teammates ever," said Barkov, who notched a goal and two assists to earn first-star honors in the win. "I appreciate that, but all I want to do is work hard for this team and give everything that I have on the ice. I want to win, and we've been winning. This is a lot of fun and I've been enjoying it a lot."

5. WEEGAR HITS 200

Weegar hit a nice round number tonight.
By taking the ice against the Blackhawks, the 27-year-old defenseman officially skated in the 200th game of his budding career. Really coming into his own, Weegar, one half of Florida's top-defensive pairing, has posted 17 points (two goals, 15 assists) through 28 games this season.
At the time of this writing, Weegar is also tied for first in the league in even-strength points (16).

"It seems like he has a little added patience with the puck this year," Quenneville said of Weegar. "His play recognition is improving as well. He's involved in the attack as an extra guy a lot."
Taken in the seventh round (206th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft, Weegar, an absolute steal of a pick, has played all 200 games of his career thus far with the Panthers, registering 15 goals, 43 assists, 378 hits and 279 blocked shots while climbing his way up to the team's top pairing.
Pushing his point streak to five games tonight, he's posted one goal and six assists in that span.