Blackhawks Fall Short In Joel Quenneville’s Return To Chicago

Kirby Dach had two points to lead a comeback effort, but the Blackhawks were unable to overcome a 4-1 deficit in the third period.

The Florida Panthers snapped the Chicago Blackhawks five-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory on Tuesday in Joel Quenneville’s first game back to the United Center since getting fired on Nov. 6, 2018. Quenneville went 452-249-96 in 11 seasons as Blackhawks head coach and led the team to three Stanley Cup championships (2010, 2013, 2015).

“It was a great feeling. Captured some special moments in the building [with] the enthusiasm and the excitement and the noise,” said Quenneville on his emotions during the Blackhawks tribute video during the first period. “It felt like a different game, had some importance to it. It was special. It was kind of like saying thank you to me and I was thanking them and it was all good. Felt great.”

RECAP

Besides the pre-game ceremony for Patrick Kane’s 1,000th career point and Joel Quenneville’s tribute video, not much else occurred in the first period. Both goaltenders — Sergei Bobrovsky for Florida, and Robin Lehner for Chicago– made a couple of quality stops in a limited capacity to keep the game scoreless. The Panthers had the advantage in shots on goal 7-6 over the Blackhawks after 20 minutes.

2ND PERIOD

Evgenii Dadonov opened the scoring at 4:43 to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead with a backhand shot that bounced just over the pad of Lehner. Dadonov was able to get inside position on Jonathan Toews in front of the net to corral Aleksander Barkov’s rebound.

Less than two minutes later, Florida doubled their lead as Frank Vatrano beat Lehner with a wrist shot from the right circle. Slater Koekkoek was the culprit on defense for the Blackhawks that allowed Vatrano to get wide open in the slot.

Immediately following an unsuccessful Blackhawks’ power-play opportunity, Vatrano beat Lehner five-hole for his second goal to make it 3-0 Panthers at 10:04. Erik Gustafsson and Duncan Keith were unsuccessful in breaking up Florida’s rush after Aaron Ekblad stepped out of the penalty box, but this is a save that Lehner makes 99 times out of 100. Something just appeared to be off for the 28-year-old netminder on Tuesday.

Kirby Dach cut into the Panthers lead at 13:31 to make it 3-1 with a nasty backhand shot past Bobrovsky’s blocker. Dach turned 19 on Tuesday, and his first goal since Dec. 21 to snap a 13-game goal drought was one hell of a Birthday present. Koekkoek also picked up his fourth assist in the last five games and remains impressive on the Blackhawks’ third defensive pairing with Olli Maatta.

Alex DeBrincat took a horribly-timed tripping penalty in the final minutes of the period, and Vatrano cashed in on the powerplay for the hat trick with 37 seconds left to make it 4-1 Panthers. Ryan Carpenter turned the puck over in the defensive zone, and Connor Murphy got beat backdoor by Vatrano for a tap-in goal.

3RD PERIOD

Drake Caggiula took matters into his own hands early in the third period when he drew a penalty to send the Blackhawks to the powerplay and then scored on that same man advantage to cut the Panthers lead to 4-2. Gustafsson rifled a one-timer from the point that Caggiula redirected past Bobrovsky for his sixth goal of the season and third in the last four games.

The Blackhawks dominated possession for the majority of the period, but Bobrovsky did his part to keep the Panthers ahead. He made two fantastic stops on DeBrincat and Brandon Saad in the final 10 minutes while the Hawks were surging.

With Lehner pulled for the extra attacker, Dach made a terrific feed to set up Kane for his 25th goal of the season to make it 4-3 at 18:45. Kane extended his point streak to 11 games with the goal, the longest active streak in the NHL, and Gustafsson registered his third consecutive multi-point game with the secondary assist.

Interestingly enough, Dach is the first player with a multipoint game on his birthday at 19 or younger since Wayne Gretzky on Jan. 26, 1980.

It was a strong effort in the third period by the Blackhawks, but they ran out of time and weren’t able to overcome a 4-1 deficit. Tuesday marked the Hawks last game before the NHL All-Star game in St. Louis on Jan 24-26. With the loss, the Blackhawks go into the break 24-21-6 through 51 games and three points back of a playoff spot.

“Honestly, I thought we played well. I kind of let the team down today. I should’ve made a couple more saves,” said Lehner. “I thought there wasn’t a step back at all; I just needed to find a way to stop the bleeding a little bit and pick myself up.”

UP NEXT

The Blackhawks have the next 10 days off before they take on the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 1 at Gila River Arena. The Coyotes (26-20-5) are one of the teams the Hawks are currently chasing in the standings, so that’s a game both teams would like to have. The contest is slated for 7:00 p.m. CT and is scheduled to be on FS-A, FS-A PLUS, and NBCSCH.

For more Blackhawks news and updates, follow the author (@JackBushman2) on Twitter. Make sure to check out the author’s podcast, Talkin’ Hawkey, which can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Twitter (@TalkinHawkey).