Hawryluk's first two NHL goals help Panthers defeat Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Jayce Hawryluk scored his first two NHL goals to help the Florida Panthers to a 6-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

"I'm always hungry," Hawryluk said. "I'm always looking to score, make plays, or help our team win. That's just the way I play."
Jared McCann and Frank Vatrano each had a goal and an assist, and Mike Hoffman and Denis Malgin also scored for Florida (15-14-6), which is 4-1-0 in its past five games after a four-game losing streak (0-3-1). James Reimer made 26 saves.
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Blackhawks highlights]
The Panthers won their first game of the back-to-back 2-1 at Detroit on Saturday.
"We talked about it before the game, a back-to-back game, the young guys have to be our heartbeat and they did it tonight," Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said. "Jayce [had] two goals, [McCann] nice goal, [Frank Vatrano] … all the young guys took over tonight and found a way to have fresh legs and get us a big W."
Dylan Strome had a goal and two assists, and Connor Murphy and Alex DeBrincat scored for Chicago (13-20-6), which saw its three-game winning streak end. Cam Ward made 21 saves.
"We were feeling confident," Strome said. "Even after the first period, we were still playing pretty good. Once they get a goal, we let them take the wind out of our sails and let them get too much momentum from that. We really lost momentum, and they gained it.
"[We've] got to find a way to let those plays go and focus. That third and fourth goal really quick killed us. It's unfortunate we couldn't come back."
Murphy gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 13:23 of the first period on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle. It was his first goal of the season.
Hawryluk's first NHL goal tied it 1-1 at 16:21 of the first. He eluded Carl Dahlstrom and kept the puck when Ward left the crease to play it and scored into an open net.

Hawryluk then gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead at 2:35 of the second period on a breakaway.
"That first goal he scored was just pure hustle," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "He does have a knack for the [net]. He had a great start for Springfield (in the American Hockey League) and earned the call-up, and now every game he's getting better.
"You know it's real contagious, the passion that he brings and the energy that he brings. Nice to see him get rewarded. Nice to see a young guy score his first goal."
DeBrincat's power-play goal tied it 2-2 at 4:56 of the second. It was his 17th of the season.
"I've been getting pretty lucky lately with the puck bounces," DeBrincat said. "But you go through stretches like this and then you go through stretches where you can't buy a goal. Just kind of put them in when I can."
Hoffman gave the Panthers a 3-2 lead on a power play at 16:49 of the second off a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle.

McCann scored 31 seconds later on a rebound to make it 4-2 at 17:20 of the second.
Malgin extended the Panthers lead 59 seconds into the third period to make it 5-2.
Strome made it 5-3 at 9:35 of the third when he redirected Patrick Kane's shot past Reimer.
Vatrano scored into an empty net at 18:59 of the third for the 6-3 final score.

They said it

"Obviously these guys have been a great team over the years, and even now, they own a lot of fire power over there and they're a dangerous team. We wanted to end this little stretch here before the break on a good note." -- Panthers goaltender James Reimer
"We weren't skating as well as we have and a lot of decisions, we could take different ones: a lot of pucks turned over, both when we had a play to make and when we didn't. We just weren't able to advance the puck, and that makes it difficult. They were really playing fast and when they won the puck back, they were going ahead with it quick and trying to attack us before we were ready and we just couldn't get up to speed in that way." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton

Need to know

McCann played in his 200th NHL game. … Blackhawks forward Jacob Nilsson made his NHL debut. … Kane has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak. … DeBrincat has a three-game goal streak with five points (three goals, two assists).

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What's next

Panthers: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Friday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSCH, FS-N, NHL.TV)