Vilmanis' Four-Point Night Powers Panthers Past Blackhawks 5-3

Sandis Vilmanis enjoyed the finest night of his young career as the Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 in Sunrise on Wednesday. Vilmanis scored twice and added two assists for his first career multi-point game, opening the scoring with 15:17 left in the first period off a centering pass from Sam Reinhart and making it 4-2 with 8:59 left in the third on a loose puck in the left circle. Seth Jones scored against his former club's goalie Spencer Knight, Carter Verhaeghe also found the net, and Reinhart sealed the win with an empty-netter with 1:27 remaining to go with his two assists. Chicago got two goals from Frank Nazar and a team-leading seventh from Roman Kantserov, but the Blackhawks have now lost four straight and seven of eight, and remain the NHL's only winless road team at 0-6-1. Knight made 25 saves in defeat, while Jacob Markstrom stopped 17 for Florida. The win lifted the Panthers to 9-5 and extended their strong run to four wins in five, while Chicago slipped to 4-11 in a season that is slipping away fast.