SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 37 shots for his third shutout of the season, leading the Florida Panthers to a 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Aleksander Barkov scored twice, Gustav Forsling had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Lomberg scored his fourth goal in three games as the Panthers won their 28th home game, a club record for a season.
Jonathan Huberdeau recorded his 71st assist, an NHL record for assists by a left winger. Huberdeau has 94 points, tied with Pavel Bure. He is closing in on the club record of 96 set by Barkov in the 2018-19 season.
The Panthers could clinch a playoff spot as early as Saturday.
Collin Delia stopped 40 shots for the Blackhawks, who lost their third straight game.
Barkov’s second goal stretched the Panthers lead to 4-0. During a 5-on-3 power play, Barkov took a pass from Huberdeau in the right circle and beat Delia with 6:13 left in the game.
Lomberg put the Panthers ahead 2-0 when he took a pass from Joe Thornton, skated in and beat Delia on the glove side at 7:23 of the second.
Forsling’s shot from the point got through traffic and into the net to make the score 3-0 with 8:14 left in the second. The goal survived a coach’s challenge from Chicago for goalie interference.
Barkov gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with 1:36 left in the first when he stuffed in the puck during a scrum in front of the Chicago net.
The Panthers had a goal disallowed 41 seconds in when it was ruled that Barkov kicked the puck in with his skate.
SIX WITH 20
The Panthers have six 20-goal scorers for the first time. Only seven teams in the last 25 years have had more than six players score that many goals. Detroit (2005-06) had eight. New Jersey (2000-01), San Jose (2010-11), Philadelphia (2013-14), Toronto (2018-19) and Washington (2008-09 and 2018-19) all had seven.
NOTES: Blackhawks C Jonathan Toews played his 1,000th NHL game. Toews is the 366th NHL player to reach the milestone and the eighth Chicago player. ...
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Visit Tampa Bay on Friday.
Panthers: Visit New Jersey on Saturday.
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