Tobias Björnfot lit the lamp twice and Mackie Samoskevich also ended a long scoring drought to help the Florida Panthers finish a perfect three-game road trip with a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.

After a scoreless first period, Björnfot registered his first goal since 2021 by beating former Panther Spencer Knight for a wrap-around goal after Cole Schwindt won an offensive zone draw back to him at the left point with 4:27 left in the second. It was his first-ever point in a Panthers kit.

The Blackhawks would quickly counter to tie the tilt with 30 seconds left in the frame. After making a great hold at the blue line, Wyatt Kaiser crossed to Ilya Mikheyev, who sent the puck in front to Tyler Bertuzzi, who went backhand-to-forehand to get the puck past Daniil Tarasov.

Florida would regain the lead 5:20 into the third. Samoskevich collected Gustav Forsling’s dump-in along the boards and skated into the right circle before putting a shot on goal that Knight got most of, but still managed to dribble over the line with Kaiser desperately trying to fish it out.

Carter Verhaeghe would score a much more convincing goal when he took a short pass from Evan Rodrigues and whistled a wrister by Knight 2:04 later to give the Cats some breathing room. Forsling picked up another assist by head-manning to Rodrigues on the left side.

Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen would get the helpers on Sam Reinhart’s empty-netter from center ice at the 18:11 mark to put the Panthers up by three.

With Knight back between the pipes, Björnfot would notch his second of the night with 22 ticks left on the clock by joining the rush and firing the puck over Knight’s blocker after receiving a pass from Verhaeghe. The secondary asist on the game’s final marker went to Anton Lundell, his 21st assist of the season.

Props to the Panthers, who after playing an overtime game in St. Paul the night before, had enough left in the tank to score four times in the third period to blow away the Blackhawks in the Windy City. The big win pulled the Cats to within three points of the Boston Bruins, who hold the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers will return home to face the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night.

The Five Hole

Tobias Björnfot produced the first multi-goal game of his career by scoring on each of his two shots on Spencer Knight. His only other NHL goal came on May 1, 2021 against the Anaheim Ducks when he was a member of the Los Angeles Kings.

Daniil Tarasov stopped 19 of 20 shots to record his fourth-straight win. Tarasov has posted a .944 save percentage and 1.22 goals against average during the streak.

After scoring against Minnesota, Sam Reinhart took the team lead in goals (26) and became the first Panther to reach the 50-point mark this season by finding the empty net.

Carter Verhaeghe potted his 15th goal and took the team lead in assists (25) with the primary helper on Björnfot’s second marker. He’s the fourth Cat to hit 40 points.

Mackie Samoskevich ended an 18-game run without a goal. The last time he found the back of the net was on December 18. It was his first game-winner of the campaign.