Blackhawks' Winners and Losers: Nazar's two goals aren't enough against Panthers

The Chicago Blackhawks' woes in Sunrise, Florida, continued on Wednesday, with the club dropping its 10th straight contest at Amerant Bank Arena by a 5-3 score. The Florida Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Roman Kantserov got the visitors on the board late in the second period. Halfway through the third, Frank Nazar scored on a shorthanded breakaway to cut the deficit to 3-2 before adding a beautiful top-shelf goal to make it 4-3.

Florida got two goals from Sandis Vilmanis, plus a power-play tally from Carter Verhaeghe, a goal from former Chicago defenseman Seth Jones, and an empty-net goal from Sam Reinhart. The loss dropped the Blackhawks' record to 4-11-2.

Win: Roman Kantserov leads all NHL rookies in goals

With no one consistently stepping up to lead Chicago's offensive attack, rookie Roman Kantserov is now up to seven goals on the season. Not only is the 22-year-old leading the Blackhawks in goals, but the former second-round pick from the 2023 NHL Draft is also leading all rookies in that category.

After Wednesday's contest, he is one goal ahead of James Hagens (Boston) and Trevor Connelly (Vegas). Last year, Kantserov scored 36 goals in the KHL and is on pace for 34 in his NHL debut season.

Loss: Spencer Knight continues to surrender costly soft goals

When Vilmanis scored the game’s first goal, Spencer Knight had to slide across the crease and hope to get a piece of the Panthers’ shot after a nice cross-ice pass. Those are usually difficult to stop as a goalie at any level, so there’s not a lot of blame for the first one. Realistically, the same could be said about Verhaeghe’s goal to extend the home team’s lead.

On the power play, Brady Tkachuk made a nice tip pass on one side of the crease that bounced to Verhaeghe on the other side, and he batted it into the net. Once again, very difficult to save, but Knight did get a piece of it. However, the back-breaking goal came in the second period when Jones snapped a shot along the ice that slid under Knight's right pad, which wasn't flush with the ice.

In the third, just minutes after Nazar got the team back into the game, Knight surrendered a goal through the seven-hole (under the blocker, above the pad) on a clear shot from Vilmanis. Unfortunately, Blackhawks fans are becoming all too familiar with Knight giving up goals when he needs to make saves.

Moreover, it's not like he's getting beaten on particularly difficult plays. Instead, he's surrendering goals that should be stopped.

Win: Frank Nazar comes close to his first career hat trick

Down and out for most of the game, the Blackhawks found life late in the second period and found their rhythm in the third thanks to Nazar’s two goals. Catching a tired Panthers power-play unit, he received a breakout pass and beat Markström to cut the deficit to one goal. Once Florida regained its two-goal advantage, Nazar fired home his second of the evening with a beautiful top-shelf goal.

In 136 games, the 23-year-old has never recorded a hat trick, but he secured his second career two-goal game against Florida. Although he was visibly frustrated after getting outmuscled by Reinhart, which resulted in an empty-net goal, he ultimately had nothing to hang his head about. He gave his struggling teammates hope in the third period with his two goals.

Loss: Blackhawks' power play remains ineffective against Panthers

Considering the Blackhawks' winless streak stretched to four games, they could have benefited from making something happen on the power play. They did get three opportunities, but failed to score a goal, ending their season series against the Panthers at 0-for-10 on the power play. Moreover, Chicago is now 1-for-11 in their last four games, sinking their overall totals to 5-for-50.

On the flip side, Florida went 1-for-4 in its previous meeting with Chicago a week and a half ago before finishing 1-for-3 on Wednesday, surrendering a shorthanded breakaway goal to Nazar in the third period. His fourth of the year gave the Blackhawks a sliver of hope with half a period to play, but the club did finish the contest with six shots in the final 20 minutes.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow