In Sunrise, Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves in a 4-3 win for the Panthers over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks in a Sunday matinee.
The Panthers struck early on a goal by Oliver Ekman-Larsson with 39 seconds gone in the first period.
We didn’t like our start,’’ Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “They were harder and better, and we just let them be. It’s not that we weren’t trying, but we were sloppy. They played a little on top of us, were a little more physical, but we corrected that.”
The Panthers improved to 9-4-1.
Sam Reinhart hit for a double and four points in the win.
“Everyone is buying in,’’ Reinhart said. “We have some core guys from last year, which makes it kind of easier for the new guys to kind of buy into it. Everyone has certainly done that early on.’’
Connor Bedard also hit for a double for the Blackhawks.
Chicago dropped to 5-8-0.
The Hawks tied the game, 1-1, at 7:04 of the first on a marker from Jason Dickinson,
Reinhart scored his first of the afternoon 11:54 off the power-play for a 2-1 lead to the Panthers.
“He has this great balance of intensity, and at other times, he thinks his way into finding holes,’’ Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He has such great hands. I am happy for him. He has worked so hard to get himself to this point.”
Bedard hit for his first with 56 seconds left in the opening frame for a 2-2 tie headed to the middle stanza.
Reinhart and Bedard traded second period goals for a 3-3 tie.
Reinhart scored his double at 7:00, and Bedard hit for his second at 8:18.
“It’s really frustrating,’’ Bedard said. “A big win in Tampa (5-3 on Thursday) and I think we want to start stringing them together. Obviously, we haven’t won two in a row. It’s frustrating whenever you lose, but I think they probably deserved it more than us. We got our chances and we were in the game, which is a good thing, but it’s frustrating for sure.”
Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner at 2:44 of the third for the 4-3 final, the goal came off the power play.put
Arvid Soderblom made 28 saves in the loss.
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