CHICAGO – Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, and the streaking Chicago Blackhawks withstood Florida’s late push to beat the Panthers 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Taylor Raddysh, Philipp Kurashev and Jonathan Toews also scored in the Blackhawks’ fourth straight victory after dropping their first two games of the season. Chicago overcame two-goal deficits in its previous three wins, but had to hold on against the Panthers in the final 10 minutes.
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Florida, which won its first two games, is 2-2-1 since. Eetu Luostarinen and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers.
Tkachuk’s goal, on a nifty mid-air deflection of Carter Verhaeghe’s point shot, closed the gap to 3-2 with 7:13 to play. But Chicago goalie Alex Stalock, who stopped 29 shots, hung on from there.
Kane, held without a goal in the Blackhawks’ first five games, beat Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with a wrist shot from the right circle with 22.4 seconds left in the first period to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.
Raddysh opened the scoring with a slap shot on a power play, beating Bobrovsky over the right shoulder from 25 feet. It was the fifth power-play goal in six games for Chicago, which had only 47 in 82 games last season.
Kurashev scored from the slot with 4:02 left in the third after maneuvering by Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling, who was hobbling after blocking a shot seconds earlier. Toews added an empty-net goal with 22.7 seconds left.
Stalock made big stops on Colin White in the slot and Patric Hornqvist from the doorstep within 45 seconds in the third period in trying to earn his ninth career shutout, but Luostarinen’s rebound goal at 11:32 ended that bid.
Bobrovsky faced few difficult shots among the 18 he saved, but was fooled by Kane, who fired to the far side on his goal, and was left defenseless on the goals by Raddysh and Kurashev.
POWERLESS PLAY
Florida missed defenseman Aaron Ekblad (groin) for the third straight game, and his absence was felt most on the power play, which he usually quarterbacks. The Panthers had five power plays in the second period, including 1:35 of 5-on-3 advantage, and managed only four shots. Ekblad, who had 57 points in 61 games last season, is on long-term injured reserve.
UP NEXT
Florida: Finishes its two-game trip in Philadelphia on Thursday night.
Chicago: Hosts the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
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