Back on home ice for the first time in about two weeks, the Chicago Blackhawks roared back from a four-game skid with a 3-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
The Hawks scored twice in the first period, added a power play goal in the second and survived a late Panthers push to beat Florida for the first time this season.
The Hawks had gone 0-3-1 against the Panthers in four road games.
Brandon Hagel swiped a neutral zone pass along the boards that was meant for Alex Wennberg, then turned and passed to Kubalik coming up the left side.
Kubalik banked a shot through goaltender Chris Driedger’s leg for his sixth straight game with a point. It also was the sixth time Kubalik or Hagel had the primary helper on the other’s goal since Feb. 27.
With a minute and a half left in the first period, Pius Suter tipped in Nikita Zadorov’s blast from the point. The marker was Suter’s first in seven games and was Zadorov’s first point since his goal against Detroit on Feb. 28.
In the second period, Carl Soderberg tipped in a shot from Patrick Kane on the Hawks’ second power play of the night. The Panthers answered about 4 1/2 minutes later when Noel Acciari centered a pass to Anton Stralman, who caught goaltender Kevin Lankinen off his post.
The Panthers then capitalized on Zadorov’s hooking penalty with Alex Wennberg’s wrister with about 4 1/2 minutes left in the game.
But the Hawks stopped a potential tying rally, killing off a penalty with 2 1/2 minutes left in the game.
Kane had two assists. Lankinen made 33 saves while Driedger had 29.
Blackhawks winger MacKenzie Entwistle made his NHL debut, playing on the fourth line with Philipp Kurashev and Carl Soderberg.
Entwistle hopped on at the 2:40 mark, broke up ice for a point-black shot against Driedger and hit Gustav Forsling during his first shift.
Before the game, the Hawks honored Kane’s 1,000th during a brief ceremony with his parents, girlfriend and infant son on the ice. Kane reached the milestone March 9 in Dallas, so the Hawks delayed celebrating the feat until they returned to the United Center.
The team held off presenting Kane with a silver stick to grant his wish to wait until Hawks fans can attend.
Kane and several teammates had a playful moment during warmups with all of them launching pucks into the stand with their sticks in a ritual that’s usually Kane’s alone.
