The Florida Panthers saved their best for last — and then some. After two tightly played, low-event periods, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions erupted for four goals in the third period to pull away from the Chicago Blackhawks, skating to a 5-1 victory Sunday night for their third straight win and sixth in their last eight games.
Florida defenseman Tobias Bjornfot was the unlikely headliner, scoring twice for the first multi-goal game of his career. The two goals gave Bjornfot just three tallies over seven NHL seasons and 139 career games, making the night all the more memorable.
The game was largely a stalemate through 40 minutes, with both teams generating only a handful of quality chances and neither able to establish much territorial dominance. Bjornfot finally broke through with 4:27 left in the second period on a fluky play. Following a faceoff in the Chicago zone, he circled behind the net and jammed the puck through Spencer Knight’s pads from the right side. It was Bjornfot’s first goal in five games this season — and his first since May 2021 with Los Angeles during the COVID-altered season.
Chicago answered late. With just 29.3 seconds left in the period, Tyler Bertuzzi tied the game 1-1, taking a feed from Ilya Mikheyev at the edge of the crease and shoveling a high shot past Daniil Tarasov’s stick side. The goal was Bertuzzi’s team-leading 25th of the season.
Any momentum the Blackhawks gained didn’t survive the intermission.
Despite playing at Minnesota the night before — a 4-3 overtime win — the Panthers came out flying in the third. Mackie Samoskevich restored Florida’s lead at 5:20, slipping a shot from the slot under Knight’s arm and just over the goal line. Just 2:04 later, Carter Verhaeghe made it 3-1, ripping a one-timer from the slot to put the game firmly in Florida’s control.
Sam Reinhart sealed it with an empty-net goal with 1:49 remaining, and Bjornfot capped his night with 22 seconds left, cruising into the slot and burying Verhaeghe’s feed with Knight back in the net.
Tarasov finished with 19 saves for Florida, as the Panthers moved eight games over .500 for the first time this season. Knight, who began his NHL career with the Panthers, stopped 20 shots but fell to 0-2 against his former team.
The Panthers will look to keep rolling when they host Utah on Tuesday, while the Blackhawks continue their road trip at Minnesota on Tuesday.
