Lankinen makes 41 saves, Blackhawks shut out Panthers

CHICAGO -- Kevin Lankinen made 41 saves for his second NHL shutout, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Florida Panthers 3-0 at United Center on Thursday.

Patrick Kane and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks (16-13-5), who swept the two-game set against Florida after a four-game losing streak. Chicago won 3-2 here Tuesday.
"It was a fun one," Lankinen said. "A lot of saves, obviously, maybe wasn't our best game of the season, but we [hung] in there. [The] power play was good (1-for-3), penalty kill was even better (6-for-6), and [we] found a way to win against a good team. I think that was huge."

Chicago allowed at least one power-play goal in each of its prior four games.
"We got some great saves from [Lankinen] at key times there in that second period, but at the same time I really liked our third [period]," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We beared down there and found a way to defend. I would've liked us to spend a little more time in the offensive zone, hold the puck down there, get some chances, draw a penalty. A lot of times that's how you close out a game, but we did have to defend quite a bit and we did a really good job."
Lankinen, a rookie, made 29 saves in his first NHL shutout, a 2-0 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 17.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves for the Panthers (20-9-4), who played without forward Aleksander Barkov for a second straight game because of a lower-body injury. They have lost three straight for the first time this season.
"We're trying to be too cute," Florida forward Jonathan Huberdeau said. "Just [need to] skate a little bit more. We look like we're not skating, so just do that. I feel that's what we've been doing all year and the last three games we've kind of stopped. That's not the way we have to play if we want to win."
Frank Vatrano appeared to give Florida the lead at 6:51 of the first period on a wraparound, but Lankinen made a save with his right skate then covered the puck with his blocker. The call of no goal was upheld after review.

Kane got to a loose puck in front of the net and scored a power-play goal for a 1-0 lead 1:05 into the second period.
Alex DeBrincat's shot went off Bobrovsky's right pad to Pius Suter, who corralled it with his right skate and dropped to his knees to score and make it 2-0 at 3:34.
Lankinen made a left-pad save at 17:02 against Huberdeau during a 3-on-0 with Alex Wennberg and Patric Hornqvist.
"Maybe not the way we're supposed to defend, but that happens," Lankinen said. "That was one of those moments the game can turn over, so I felt like we needed a big save there, and I was able to make that. I think that brought us some momentum and we were able to survive from that."
Hagel scored into an empty net with 1:24 remaining in the third period for the 3-0 final.
"We got our opportunities, we [didn't] score. That's where it is," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "We had some great chances, we had a breakaway, hit the post. We get a 3-on-0 [and] don't even really get a scoring chance on it. That hurts."
NOTES: Bobrovsky has lost three straight starts after a six-game winning streak. … Hornqvist left at 4:15 of the third period after a hit by Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov. ... Lankinen is the first Blackhawks rookie to have a 40-plus save shutout. … Blackhawks forward Dominik Kubalik had a six-game point streak end (two goals, four assists).