Blackhawks make comeback but fall short against the Panthers, losing 5-3

The Chicago Blackhawks entered Wednesday night's away contest versus the 8-5-2 Florida Panthers with a dismal 4-10-1 record, and having not yet won a game on the road. They took hope in the fact that they'd played a competitive game in their previous contest versus the Panthers, a 3-2 loss on Oct. 25.

While they got off to a slow start in this one, they rallied back and almost forced overtime. But once it was all said and done, they fell 5-3. At this point it seems like they'll never win again. Let's get to the game details and some notable stats.

Blackhawks lineup & special teams

Bertuzzi-Bedard-Kantserov

Smith-Frondell-Teravainen

Moore-Nazar-Donato

Greenway-Greene-Boucher

Vlasic-Cole

Kaiser-Levshunov

Del Mastro-Rinzel

Knight/Soderblom

Extras: Mangiapane, Korchinski, Kane (upper body), Byram (upper body)

Patrick Kane sustained an upper body injury last game against the Colorado Avalanche, so tough guy Dillon Boucher was called up from the Rockford IceHogs for what I thought was insurance on their 3-game road trip. Turns out the Blackhawks had other plans. The 29-year-old made his NHL debut, deployed on the fourth line.

Beyond that, the forward lines were once again jumbled, with Anton Frondell centering a hodgepodge third line. The defensive pairings remained the same, as well as Spencer Knight in net.

Power play units

PP1: Nazar, Bedard-Kantserov-Frondell, Levshunov

PP2: Bertuzzi, Teravainen-Donato-Moore, Rinzel

Adjustments to the power play with Kane out included Frank Nazar bumped up to the top unit and Tyler Bertuzzi moved down to the second unit. Teuvo Teravainen was deployed on the second unit, replacing Ryan Greene. Most notably, instead of a five-forward top unit, Artyom Levshunov drew on the point instead of Connor Bedard, who was now more of a scoring threat on the flank.

Penalty kill contributors

Vlasic, Nazar, Smith, Cole, Kaiser, Greenway, Levshunov, Greene, Frondell

Blackhawks game notes

• The Panthers struck first in this one, courtesy of Sandis Vilmanis. The Latvian must really like the Blackhawks; he only has two goals on the season and both were against the Hawks. Teravainen coughed up the puck in the neutral zone, which led to the goal. Assists were provided by Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe.

• Shortly thereafter, Bedard committed a tripping penalty, and Verhaeghe wasted no time scoring on the ensuing power play. Helpers were credited to the Tkachuk brothers, Brady and Matthew. 2-0 for Florida, and the Blackhwks only had three shots on goal to show for their troubles.

• At the end of the first period, the Panthers were up 2-0 in goals & 10-5 in shots. For the Blackhawks, the most exciting development was newly called up Boucher trying to goad Garnet Hathaway into a fight. It wasn't looking good for Chicago.

• The Blackhawks were having a little bit better of a second period, ahead 5-1 in shots. But then none other than former Hawk Seth Jones got one past Spencer Knight. It's one Knight will want to have back. Assists went to Vilmanis and Sam Reinhart.

• There was finally something positive for the Blackhawks towards the end of second frame. Kantserov popped in a goal off a rebound to cut the Panthers lead to 3-1. It was a nice play by defenseman Ethan Del Mastro to be aggressive and throw the puck on net. The secondary assist went to Bedard. Kantserov now leads the Blackhawks with seven goals (and all rookies in the league). He's also on a six-game point streak.

• In the third, the Blackhawks cut the Panther's lead to one goal when Nazar scored a shorthanded breakaway goal. It was a thing of beauty to see Nazar anticipate the pass from Cole Smith & turn on the speed. Del Mastro was also credited with his second assist of the game on the play.

• No matter, because just 30 seconds later Vilmanis notched his second goal of the night to make it 4-2 for the Panthers. He took advantage of a turnover by defenseman Ian Cole. It made for a three-point night for Vilmanis.

• But don't count the Blackhawks out just yet! With just 3:51 to go in the game, Nazar decided to take matters into his own hands. He tallied his second goal of the night with a wicked shot from the point. Sam Rinzel and Bedard earned the helpers.

• Could the Blackhawks possibly come back and force overtime?! Knight headed to the bench in favor of a sixth attacker with 2:07 to go...and Reinhart scored the empty net goal. 5-3 for the Panthers was the final score, and it seems like the Blackhawks are forever doomed.

Notable stats & quotable quotes

The Blackhawks could've given up early in this one, being dominated by the Panthers and down 3-0. But to their credit they stuck with it and clawed their way back into the game, coming close to forcing overtime. Here are some notable stats from the contest.

• Two point nights for both Nazar, Bedard and Del Mastro, the former with two goals and the latter two with two assists a piece. Bedard with credited with four shots on goal and nine shot attempts, and Kantersov three shots on goal and six shot attempts. Frondell also had six shot attempts, two of them on net.

• The Hawks did pretty well at the dot against the Panthers. Frondell won 8-of-15 draws for a 53% success rate. Ryan Greene was 8-of-16 (50%), Bedard 6-of-15 (49%) and Kantserov actually won 10-of-14 faceoffs for a 71% success rate! Only Nazar struggled, winning just 2-of-7 draws (29%).

• Boucher played 8:10 minutes in his NHL debut, and was credited with two hits, one blocked shot and attempting to start two fights! Teravainen only played 8:58 minutes and was a minus-2 in what was a tough night for him. We'll see who gets scratched tomorrow versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, but I'm guessing Andrew Mangiapane draws in for one of these guys.

• Surprisingly, defenseman Wyatt Kaiser had the most time on the ice with 22:43 minutes. Usually its Alex Vlasic and Ian Cole. Kaiser was also credited with one shot on goal, three shot attempts, one hit and three blocked shots.

Here's some final words from head coach Jeff Blashill, "There was a lot of guys that competed their asses off, and I think there were a few guys that played at the end of their stick, and we can’t have that."

The Blackhawks will continue their road trip matching up against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (Nov. 5) in the second of back-to-back contests. It will be interesting to see what adjustments Blashill makes. Then they'll head to Carolina for a rematch with the Hurricanes on Saturday (Nov. 7), who they fell to 5-2 on Oct. 10.

In the meantime, the Blackhawks are a measly 4-11-1 and still looking for their first road win.

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