CHICAGO — Kevin Lankinen made 41 saves in his second career shutout, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the short-handed Florida Panthers 3-0 on Thursday night.
Patrick Kane and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist as Chicago earned its second straight victory against Florida after dropping their first four meetings this season. Pius Suter also scored.
Led by Lankinen, the Blackhawks killed off each of the Panthers’ six power plays. The rookie goaltender also denied Jonathan Huberdeau on a rare 3-on-0 break with about three minutes left in the second period.
Lankinen also played a key in role in Chicago’s 3-2 victory over Florida on Tuesday night, finishing with 33 stops.
The Panthers played without captain Aleksander Barkov for the second consecutive game, and fellow forward Patric Hornqvist departed in the third period after he was leveled by a huge hit from Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov.
Barkov is dealing with a lower-body injury, but coach Joel Quenneville said he was feeling much better and could return this weekend in Dallas.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves for Florida, which has lost a season-high three in a row.
Chicago went ahead to stay on Kane’s power-play goal 1:05 into the second period. With Bobrovsky down on the ice after a scramble in front, Kane skated in and flipped the puck into the net for his 13th of the season.
Suter then made it 2-0 with his 10th at 3:34. Kane set up Alex DeBrincat for a good look from the left circle that was denied by Bobrovsky. The rebound went right to a streaking Suter, who knocked it into the open net.
With the Panthers pushing hard to get on the board in the third, Hagel helped close it out with a long empty-netter with 1:24 left.
UP NEXT
Panthers: Visit the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.
Blackhawks: Host the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.
Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
