5 Takeaways: Vatrano Lifts 'Relentless' Panthers to Win Over Blackhawks

SUNRISE, Fla. - Frank Vatrano dropped to knees, raised his hands and stared into the heavens.
After 60 minutes of heated back-and-forth hockey wasn't enough, it was the speedy winger that took a pinpoint pass from Aleksander Barkov through the slot and blasted home a heavy one-timer in overtime to lift the Florida Panthers to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at BB&T Center on Tuesday night.
With the victory, the Panthers improved to 2-0-0 to start their 2020-21 campaign.

"It was obviously a great feeling," Vatrano said. "Great play all around by [Barkov] and [MacKenzie Weegar]. I think it was a good team effort tonight. We fought back. We made some mistakes, but we'll learn from that and just keep going. I think we're a relentless team and that's a good identity to have."
After having the opening goal initially credited to him and then later taken away during Sunday's home opener, Carter Verhaeghe left no doubt against the Blackhawks tonight, lifting a smooth backhand shot over goaltender Kevin Lankinen's blocker to break the ice and make it a 1-0 game at 13:25 of the first period.
Finding the back of the net for the second consecutive game, Patric Hornqvist doubled Florida's lead soon after, carving out some very prime real estate near the top of the crease before banging home a rebound on the man advantage to make it 2-0 at 16:16 first period - just 2:51 after Verhaeghe's tally.
At 18:40, Dominik Kubalik cut Chicago's deficit in half with a power-play goal that made it 2-1.
Coming out of the first intermission flying, Verhaeghe lit the lamp for the second time - the second multi-goal game of his young career - to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead just 2:45 into the middle frame.
Pushing right back, Kubalik got the Blackhawks back within a goal when he scored on the power play yet again to make it 3-2 at 8:05. Then, with less than a minute left in the second period, Patrick Kane slipped a stunning backhand past goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game 3-3 heading into the third period.
A revenge goal, Bobrovsky had stoned Kane on a penalty shot just a few minutes earlier.
"Obviously, he's a good shooter," Bobrovsky, who finished with 30 saves in his season debut, said his big stop on Kane. "He's a very experienced guy, especially with the shootouts. I played patient and tried to let him do his things and then shoot. My main thing was overwait him and let him do the first move."

At 6:06 of the final frame, Philipp Kurashev scored on a long shot to make it 4-3 and give the Blackhawks their first lead of the game. Sent to the power play soon after, Hornqvist then got the contest even once again for the Panthers when he tipped in Keith Yandle's one-timer from the point to make it 4-4 at 7:17.
The hero in overtime, Vatrano netted the game-winning goal at 2:50 of the extra frame.
"I thought it was an exciting game," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought there was great pace to our team game in the first period. I thought we slowed down, and then they had their turn in the second. I like the way we battled back.
"It was a huge win and we'll take it. Certainly, some parts of our game have got to get better, but I like the pace that we showed. I don't know if we saw that pace at any point last year. That was the encouraging part in the first period."

1. THE CARTER VOL. 1

After ringing one off the post a bit earlier, you knew Verhaeghe was going to cash in eventually.
Collecting a pass from slick pass from Barkov, Verhaeghe flew up the right side off the ice, fended off a defender and backhanded a shot past Lankinen to put the Panthers up 1-0 at 13:25 of the first period.
The goal was Verhaeghe's first as a member of the Panthers.

"It's good for the confidence," Verhaeghe said of his two-goal performance. "But, obviously, the biggest thing is that we won two games. We want to put ourselves in a good spot right off the start, and I think we did that. We just want to keep the momentum going here."
Joining Florida as a free agent during the offseason, Verhaeghe has been making the most of his top-line opportunity. After posting 13 points (nine goals, four assists) in 52 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019-20, the 25-year-old forward has already tallied three points (two goals, one assist) this season.
Averaging less than 10 minutes per game last season, he skated a career-high 18:14 tonight.
"He's done a lot of good things," Quenneville said of Verhaeghe. "He can help our team game."

2. KING OF THE CREASE

The Panthers spent a lot of time working on the power play in recent practices.
Clearly, all of that hard work paid off. Just nine seconds into their first man advantage of the night, Yandle floated a shot towards the net. After Lankinen made the initial stop, Hornqvist, who had set up shop just on top of the blue paint, turned around and whacked in the rebound to double Florida's lead to 2-0 at 16:16 of the first period.

"He knows how to park himself there and he's willing to fight those battles," Quenneville said.
Coming over from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade early in the offseason, Hornqvist has established himself both as a leader and a scoring threat in a short amount of time. Serving as one of the Panthers alternate captains, he's also found the back of the net in each of the first two games with his new club.
A consistent goal-scorer, the 34-year-old veteran has at least 17 goals in each of his last seven seasons.
"He's got that knack of playing [around the] goal," Quenneville said of Hornqvist, a two-time Stanley Cup Champion. "He's a distraction for goalies… There's been a lot of loose pucks hanging around the net these last few games. Those have got to get to the back of the net at some point. I think some of them were going in because of his screens and the tips and a lot of different looks going with him creating traffic."

3. DUKE'S DISHES

Duclair was all about dishing the puck tonight.
After earning a secondary assist on Verhaeghe's first goal of the game, the 25-year-old winger used his speed to create another goal for his linemate a little bit later. Flying straight down the slot, Duclair crashed toward the net and nearly snuck a shot past Lankinen, creating a juicy rebound in the process.
With the puck sitting unprotected in the middle of the blue paint, Verhaeghe then swooped down and tapped in the goal for is second score to send the Panthers ahead 3-1 at 2:45 of the second period.

"Duke's got some great speed," Quenneville said.
A 2020 NHL All-Star, Duclair signed a one-year deal with Florida during the offseason after scoring a career-high 23 goals with the Ottawa Senators last year. His two assists tonight were his fist - likely of many more - points as a member of the Panthers.

4. POWERED UP

The Panthers continue to be very effective with the extra attacker on the ice.
Netting a pair of power-play goals during tonight's win, none were bigger than Hornqvist's game-tying goal in the third period. Taking a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau, Yandle one-timed a shot toward the net that caught a piece of the hard-nosed Swede and went in to make it 4-4 at 7:17 of the third period.

"A big timely goal," Quenneville said. "[Hornqvist] in front of the net doing his thing."
Through two games this season, the Panthers have gone 3-for-8 on the power play for an impressive 37.5% percent success rate. When asked about what's making the unit tick, Quenneville complimented several players such as Huberdeau and Yandle, but also pointed to good retrievals and time in the zone.
As of right now, Hornqvist leads the team in goals (2) and points (3) on the power play.
"It was a good effort across the board," Quenneville said. "Power play goals were going in for both teams tonight, the but the timely one was a huge goal for us."

5. VATRANO'S CELLY

It wasn't what he had in mind, but Vatrano's celebration after scoring tonight's winner was pure joy.
If you watch one highlight from tonight's game, the video below is the one you don't want to miss.

"If you ask [Yandle] he'll call it the 'Michael Jackson' because I just kind of toe-picked and fell over," Vatrano said with a chuckle when asked about his celebration. "It definitely wasn't the celebration I had in mind, but I think when you fall down like that that's all you have. I was going right to [Barkov]. I should have given him a little kiss on the cheek there for that pass he gave me."
His first goal of the season, Vatrano notched 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists) in 2019-20.