THREE THINGS: Win Column, 1Kane and Entwistle Gets In

The Blackhawks opened the heaviest home stretch of the season with a much-needed win on Tuesday night, holding on for a 3-2 win over the Panthers at the United Center.
Chicago raced out to a 3-0 lead on the back of goals from Dominik Kubalik, Pius Suter and Carl Soderberg and withstood a late charge from Florida with a 33-save performance from Kevin Lankinen in his 11th win of the season.

"Liked our start. Thought we were engaged and hard-working and did a good job of kind of taking control of the game early on," head coach Jeremy Colliton said. "I think we won the game in the first half. Obviously we'd love to snuff them out and end the game, not allow them to get back in it."
"We did a good job of coming out strong and kind of took over the game to get it to 3-0," Patrick Kane said. "Obviously would like to kill the game a little bit more, but nice to hang on against a team that's pretty good at coming back in games and puts a lot of pressure on you."

Here are three takeaways from the victory:

HELLO, WIN COLUMN

Following a disappoint 1-5-0 road trip and the aforementioned four-game skid coming into the night, the victory was just as important for morale as it was for the standings race in the Central Division.
Kicking off a six-game homestand and a stretch with seven of nine at the United Center, the victory was the right first step in a decisive portion of the schedule.
"We needed the win. We needed something good to happen to us," Colliton said. "We probably deserved a bit better on the trip. But that doesn't get you anywhere. We've got to earn some momentum and I think we've done that. Now it's up to us to do something with it."
"It was big for me, it was big for the team and it was big for Kaner, too," Lankinen said. "Just in general, we wanted to have a good start for this homestand, come out strong, and we did that. Had a really big start and got a couple goals and obviously brought home the win, too, which is nice. It was huge, for sure."
In an ever-tightening race in the playoff picture, Chicago is trailed in the fourth and final playoff spot by Columbus (2 points) and Nashville (4 points), all with 33 games played thus far. Dallas, who lost on the night in Tampa, sits 7 points back of the Blackhawks, but hold four games in-hand.
All told, the four teams in the hunt are separated by just .060 percentage points as the season nears the final full month.
"Now we have 23 games left in the season," Kane said, "so of course you're watching it to see what's going on. I think the best thing we can do is play like we did tonight and control our own destiny and keep winning games and (we) should be fine... You're watching (the standings), but most importantly worried about what we're doing as a team."

1KANE

In the first home game since Kane joined the illustrious 1,000 game club on March 9 in Dallas, the Blackhawks honored the 15-year veteran ahead of Tuesday's game against the Panthers.
Though a large-scale celebration -- and the presentation of the customary Silver Stick -- is on hold until the United Center can safely be packed with 22,000+ fans, the organization presented him with a commemorative 1Kane print and the NHL a Tiffany crystal in honor of his milestone. Kane's parents, Patrick Sr. and Donna, as well as his girlfriend Amanda and newborn son, Patrick T. Kane III, were on-hand for the occasion as well.
"I know my parents were super excited to be in town and to be able to come on the ice," Kane said of the intimate ceremony. "They've been a huge part of the reason I am where I am and nice to share those moments with them… Nice to see them and nice to share that moment with Amanda and my son. Pretty much his first appearance -- besides walking outside -- in the outside world. It was fun to see him on the ice and see Amanda, as well. They've both meant so much to me for a long time."

"Of course you'd love to see that with a full building, Kaner being recognized for such a great accomplishment," Colliton said. "He's been so important to the organization, the team, the city, the league. I thought it was kind of cool, though. It was really just the team out there. I was thinking while it was happening, it was kind of a nice moment. Obviously our group thinks a lot of Kaner and it was our little chance to recognize him there. He'll get his big celebration, but I thought it was kind of neat."
Ahead of the game, every Blackhawks player donned a No. 88 sweater for warmups in Showtime's honor, and also took part in Kane's pregame ritual of a puck toss.

ENTWISTLE GETS IN

MacKenzie Entwistle became the seventh Blackhawks rookie this season to make his NHL debut, skating just 6:03 of ice time and registering two shots on goal on Tuesday night.
"It's just a taste for him. We wanted to reward him for his work in Rockford. I thought he was solid," Colliton said. "It's tough, your first game and it's a tight game.. Gave us some solid minutes and it's something he can build on."
More impressively, it was the Entwistle's third game in as many nights after playing for the IceHogs on Sunday and Monday in Iowa against the Wild. He scored a goal in Sunday's 5-3 loss and added an assist in Monday's 6-1 victory.
"He's been getting better as the year goes on here," Colliton said. "He didn't skate much early and just getting back into the swing of things, conditioning, and all those things, it takes time. He's been steadily improving here over the last few weeks and I thought he was really good in these past two games (in Rockford)."
The forward has two goals and three assists in 12 AHL games this season.