"It was great to come back," said Duclair, who earned second-star honors for his efforts. "You never like to be injured, be out and watch the boys from the press box. We have an unreal medical staff here that took great care of me. I'm just happy to be back, playing with these guys and getting some wins."
Following a scoreless opening 20 minutes of action, the Blackhawks managed to draw first blood when Brandon Hagel sent a cross-crease dish from Dominik Kubalik right past Sergei Bobrovsky and into the back of the net to make it a 1-0 game just 28 seconds after the puck had dropped in the second period.
After that, however, it was pretty much all Panthers.
Starting with a goal from Barkov at 7:46, the Cats touched twine three times within a span of 4:34 to turn the game on its head and take a commanding lead. After Barkov made it 1-1, Carter Verhaeghe and Frank Vatrano each got one past Kevin Lankinen at 11:00 and 12:19, respectively, to make it a 3-1 game.
"We had an excellent period," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said of the middle frame. "Outside of the goal that we gave up, I thought we did everything right… It was one of those periods where all the lines were doing the right things… It's one of those periods to remember that when you play right, it's fun."
Padding that advantage in the third period, Barkov essentially put the game out of reach when Duclair set him up with a nice pass for a goal from the low slot to make it 4-1 at 10:01. And even though Chicago managed to cut the deficit down to 4-2 with a goal from Adam Boqvist at 18:28, the Panthers held on.
Keeping the Blackhawks scorers in check all night, Florida received some exceptional play from both its penalty kill and Bobrovsky. Entering tonight's matchup with the third-ranked power play in the league at 31%, Chicago finished 0-for-4 on the man advantage, with Bobrovsky making eight shorthanded saves.