Blackhawks winners and losers: 7 wasted power plays prove costly against Panthers

On Sunday afternoon, the Chicago Blackhawks welcomed the feisty Florida Panthers to the Madhouse, dropping a tightly contested 3-2 decision to their Atlantic Division foes. Despite opening the scoring with a Ryan Greene goal in the first period, Chicago fell behind 2-1 before Roman Kantserov netted his fourth of the year in the second.

In addition, the Blackhawks played very disciplined hockey for 40 minutes, but things unraveled a bit in the third. Spencer Knight finished the afternoon with 29 saves, while his record dropped to 3-5-0. Let’s get into winners and losers from the latest Blackhawks setback.

Winner: Greene becomes the 14th different Blackhawks goal scorer this season

Every game, fans check in on the Blackhawks to see how many points Connor Bedard or Patrick Kane get. Yet, most nights, there are so many other names on the scoresheet. Chicago already had goals from 13 different players before Greene expanded the list to 14 with his first goal of the season. With two assists through nine games, he’s up to three points and is now one of 11 players with at least that many points through 10 games. Last year, the 23-year-old had 12 goals and 29 points. Although the Blackhawks continue to struggle to get shots on goal, their offensive attack is spread out through the lineup, and they are not top-heavy like other teams in the NHL.

Loser: Blackhawks' power-play

Against the Panthers, who have a decent penalty kill and ranked 12th coming into Sunday’s game, the Blackhawks failed to capitalize on seven power-play opportunities. That’s not a typo either, since Florida is the most penalized team in the NHL, providing the home team two separate 5-on-3 chances. However, the Panthers weren't facing the most dangerous power play, since Chicago has the worst numbers in the league, and it showed. Despite having Kane and Bedard on the top unit, there were more passes than shots. Meanwhile, the Panthers ended up with several breakaway opportunities when the Blackhawks forgot to backcheck the player coming out of the box.

Winner: Chicago stayed relatively disciplined

As mentioned, the Panthers have taken the most penalties in the NHL, usually getting caught in after-whistle scrums. Despite taking several questionable hits, including Teuvo Teravainen from Radko Gudas in the second period, Chicago didn’t retaliate and get caught up in Florida’s usual antics. Moreover, the Blackhawks waited until the third period to begin taking penalties, collecting 10 minutes in total, and limited the Panthers to just one goal on four power-play opportunities.

Loser: Blackhawks' lack of killer instinct

As a younger team, the Blackhawks didn’t take advantage of a walking-wounded Panthers club. Right now, Florida is missing captain Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, and their No. 1 goalie, Jacob Markström. Moreover, they were just shut out in Pittsburgh on Thursday and gave up nine consecutive goals over their last two games. No one expected Chicago to blow out the Panthers; but clearly the visitors rolled into town on a losing streak after an emotional game in Ottawa and then a clunker in Pittsburgh. Even though the Blackhawks had the game’s first goal, they ended up chasing it shortly after and just couldn't find that next goal to put their opponent away.

Loser: Spencer Knight’s tracking abilities

Spencer Knight, a former first-round pick of the Panthers, had a questionable performance against his former team on Sunday. No, we ain’t talking about making almost 30 saves or his key stops that kept the Blackhawks in the game. Instead, we need to discuss his ability to track the puck, because all three of Florida’s goals were stoppable.

The first one was a bad rebound, but the second one, off the backside of Matthew Tkachuk, was a trick shot. On the replay, it’s clear Knight lost track of the player with the puck in the slot and had no clue where Tkachuk was. On the game-winning goal, with less than three minutes to play, Lars Eller came down and sniped one under Knight’s arm, and for some reason the Chicago goalie didn’t flinch, possibly thinking the shot was going wide. Overall, the Blackhawks need a stronger performance out of their top goalie to win winnable games.

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