Vilmanis goes for four as Panthers hold off Blackhawks 5-3
Sandis Vilmanis had two goals and two assists, and Florida survived a shaky third after Chicago cut a 3-0 lead to one twice.
Panthers 5, Blackhawks 3
Sandis Vilmanis played the best game of his young NHL career, and the cats nearly let a struggling Chicago team spoil it. A comfortable 3-0 lead had shrunk to 4-3 with under four minutes remaining before Sam Reinhart buried the empty-netter at 18:33. Two points in the bank, but nobody in that room should feel satisfied with the third period.
How it went
Vilmanis opened the scoring at 4:43 of the first, finishing a play that Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe built. Connor Bedard went to the box for tripping at 12:09, and 20 seconds later Verhaeghe made him pay on the power play, set up by Brady Tkachuk and Matthew Tkachuk.
Seth Jones made it 3-0 at 13:20 of the second, off Vilmanis and Reinhart. Then Roman Kantserov got Chicago on the board at 16:48.
The third period unraveled. Florida was on the power play when Frank Nazar scored shorthanded at 9:31 to make it 3-2. Vilmanis answered at 11:00 to restore the cushion, but Nazar scored again at 16:09, and Sunrise held its breath until Reinhart found the empty net.
Florida outshot Chicago 30-20 and outhit them 28-12, a physical advantage that mattered all evening. Jacob Markstrom stopped 17 of 20, while Spencer Knight, facing his former team, stopped 25 of 29. It was also Lars Eller's 1,200th NHL game, and the win completed a sweep of the two-game season series.
The one concern: Niko Mikkola left in the third period with an undisclosed injury.
Three things from Sunrise:
1. Vilmanis is earning his minutes. He posted two goals, two assists and a plus-3 in only 13:34 of ice time. He arrived with three points in 14 previous appearances this season, by our count, and he doubled that total and then some in one night.
2. The second line was the first line. Reinhart finished with a goal and two assists, and his point streak is now at five games by our count. Verhaeghe matched that streak with a goal and an assist, and Vilmanis made it a three-man show.
Reinhart's night also made him the fastest Panther ever to 400 points, in his 401st game with the club, and moved him past Keith Yandle for eighth on the franchise's all-time assists list.
3. The third period was a mess. Surrendering a shorthanded goal while protecting a two-goal lead is exactly how teams lose points in December. Chicago arrived 4-10-1 with one win in its previous five games, per NHL data, and still made it a one-goal game twice. That habit has to go before the weekend road trip.
Ferda play of the night:
Gustav Forsling blocked four shots, the most on the team, in 23:20 of work. On a night the back end got loose late, he kept putting his body in the shooting lanes. Brady Tkachuk also delivered a team-high eight hits, the unglamorous work that never makes a highlight package.
What they said
"Well, they were our first line tonight," Maurice said of the Verhaeghe, Reinhart and Vilmanis trio. "They were responsible, and I really liked the way all three of them played."
Vilmanis kept it simple about his four-point night: "Yeah, it's a special night that I will remember, for sure."
Pabs' read
A victory is a victory, and 9-5-2 reads respectably in early November. But I've followed this team since the inaugural season, and the versions that win in the spring don't hand a struggling opponent new life on their own power play.
For the bettors, Reinhart's empty-netter covered the puck line: Florida closed as a 1.5-goal favorite at about even money, and eight goals cleared the 5.5 total, per our odds data. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Next game
The cats head north for back-to-back afternoon games: Saturday at Washington at 12:30 p.m. ET, then Sunday at Boston at 1 p.m. ET. Here's the Washington game page.
