Blackhawks 3, Panthers 2 (SO)
Patrick Kane scored in the third round of the shootout and Corey Crawford denied all three attempts as the Chicago Blackhawks collected their season-best third straight win with a 3-2 road triumph over the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
Marian Hossa scored for the fourth time in as many matchups against the Panthers and captain Jonathan Toews also tallied for Central Division-leading Chicago, which improved to 10-4-2 against Florida in the last 16 meetings.
Crawford, who turned aside 41 shots, denied former teammate Tomas Kopecky, Marcel Goc and Tomas Fleischmann in the shootout. Kane then ended the contest by backhanding the puck past rookie Jacob Markstrom, who finished with 31 saves.
Florida erased a two-goal deficit after Stephen Weiss' wrister beat Crawford with 1:41 remaining in the second period and veteran defenseman Ed Jovanovski's deflected blue-liner Dmitry Kulikov's wrist shot with 2:04 left in the third.
Kane set up Hossa to give the Blackhawks a 2-0 advantage at 4:54 of the second period. The 2010 Stanley Cup hero brilliantly fed the hustling veteran, who beat Markstrom for his sixth goal in nine games.