Eller Scores Late as Panthers Beat Blackhawks 3-2 in Chicago

Lars Eller scored his first goal of the season with 2:23 left in the third period, and the Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 at United Center on Sunday afternoon. Eller caught Chicago in a bad line change, skated in alone down the right side and beat Spencer Knight with a wrist shot from the right circle. Florida ended a two-game losing streak and improved to 6-4. Chicago lost its third straight game and fell to 3-8.

Chicago scored first. Ryan Greene opened the scoring at 2:34 of the first period, directing a wobbling puck past Akira Schmid after Kevin Korchinski's point shot missed the net and bounced in front. Sandis Vilmanis tied the game at 6:49, putting in a rebound of a Sam Reinhart shot. Matthew Tkachuk gave Florida a 2-1 lead with 5:39 left in the first period, five seconds into a power play, when a Seth Jones point shot struck him on the arm and went in.

Roman Kantserov tied the game at 2-2 at 11:15 of the second period, beating Schmid low on a screened shot from the right circle at the end of a shift with Patrick Kane and Connor Bedard. Kantserov's goal was his fourth of the season, a team high. It was the only goal of the period. Chicago had the better chances for long stretches of the third period as well, including a shorthanded breakaway for Frank Nazar that Schmid stopped, and a Ryan Donato shot from close range that ended with a broken stick.

Chicago's power play decides it the wrong way

The Blackhawks went 0 for 7 on the power play, including two brief five-on-three chances. Their power play conversion rate fell to 8.33 percent, the worst mark in the league. Florida killed every penalty and then scored the winner at even strength while Chicago changed lines. Eller explained the play simply: he stayed on the ice because he saw Chicago changing, took the open ice and shot. "I probably wasn't going to get a better look than that, so I just fired and it went in," he said. "It's a good feeling to get on the board, and certainly when it helps your team get two points."

Schmid made 19 saves for Florida and said he tried to stay locked in for the full sixty minutes after late goals hurt the team in the two losses that opened this road trip. Knight made 29 saves for Chicago, in some reports listed as 30, and kept the Blackhawks in the game through a first period that Florida dominated 15-6 in shots. Carter Verhaeghe played his 500th NHL game for Florida and recorded an assist. Chicago defenseman Bowen Byram missed his fourth game with an upper-body injury.

What happens next

Florida finishes its four-game road trip at Winnipeg on Tuesday. Chicago hosts Los Angeles on Tuesday to finish a seven-game homestand, and it needs a win to make anything of the home stretch. The Panthers' win was their first on this trip after two losses by a combined 9-1, and it came from the depth of the lineup rather than their top line. That is the version of Florida that won in Chicago on Sunday, patient on the penalty kill and ready when one line change went wrong for the home team.