Chicago Blackhawks Start Fast, Florida Panthers Finish In a Rout

SUNRISE — Anyone who did not think it would be the Florida Panthers day Saturday when the Chicago Blackhawks scored just 7 seconds in were in for a surprise.

Aside from that opening goal, the Panthers dominated the rebuilding Blackhawks from then on and rolled to a 5-1 win.

Florida scored twice in the first period after Landon Slaggert scored off the opening faceoff — outshooting the Blackhawks 22-3 in the process.

Chicago goalie Petr Mzarek was under siege the entire day.

In the first period alone, Florida had a 47-9 shot attempt advantage.

Sam Reinhart became the first player in franchise history to hit the 30-goal mark in four consecutive seasons as he made it 2-1 midway through the first.

Jonah Gadjovich played his first game since Dec. 20 after sustaining an upper-body injury and scored to make it 1-1.

Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues, and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for the Panthers. Sasha Barkov had two assists.

The Panthers outshot Chicago 44-25 in the win.

Paul Maurice, who coached in his 1,900th game on Wednesday, won No. 900 on Saturday.

Florida is back at it Sunday with the Islanders flying over from Tampa Bay.

Adam Boqvist, claimed off waivers by the Islanders on Friday, will play against the Lightning tonight.

NOTES: BLACKHAWKS @ PANTHERS

• Slaggert became the 15th player in NHL history to score within the first seven seconds of a game. It was the fastest goal scored in Chicago’s storied history. Brent Sutter scored 8 seconds into a game on Feb. 5, 1995 at Vancouver.
• Reinhart tied Olli Jokinen for the most 30-goal seasons in franchise history, but is the first to do it in consecutive seasons.  the feat in four consecutive campaigns. Reinhart has 151 regular-season goals with the Panthers.
• Barkov is the first player in franchise history with 200 multipoint games.

HOW THEY SCORED

• Blackhawks 1, Panthers 0 (0:07 1st):  Ryan Donato won the opening faceoff and Landon Slaggert beat Nate Schmidt and Uvis Balinskis to the bouncing puck and put it past Sergei Bobrovsky.
• Panthers 1, Blackhawks 1 (5:28 1st): Jonah Gadjovich chopped at a loose puck sitting in front of Petr Mzarek and scored after his first attempt was stopped. Chicago challenged for goalie interference to no avail.
• Panthers 2, Blackhawks 1 (10:19 1st): Sam Reinhart works his way to the front and scores off a feed from Sasha Barkov.
• Panthers 3, Blackhawks 1 (16:29 2nd): Matthew Tkachuk deflects a point shot from Reinhart.
• Panthers 4, Blackhawks 1 (0:10 3rd): Evan Rodrigues tees off on a pass from Anton Lundell and Mzarek never had a chance. Kind of like the rest of his day. Don’t blame him for this one.
• Panthers 5, Blackhawks 1 (9:37 3rd PP): Carter Verhaeghe gets a slick feed from Reinhart to keep the fun going. The goal came on Verhaeghe’s ninth shot of the game.

FHN’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME

• 1. Sam Reinhart, Panthers
• 2. Carter Verhaeghe, Panthers
• 3. Jonah Gadjovich, Panthers

ON DECK: GAME No. 54

NEW YORK ISLANDERS at FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Sunday, 6 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Last Season: Islanders Won 2-1
• This Season (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Islanders: Panthers 6, Islanders 3 (Oct. 26); March 16. At Florida: Sunday.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Panthers lead 58-34-11, 8 ties
• Next Up for the Panthers: Tuesday at Washington Capitals, 7 p.m.