Florida Panthers 5-3 Chicago Blackhawks: Vilmanis double
Sandis Vilmanis scored twice and added two assists as the Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 at Amerant Bank Arena in the NHL.
Panthers see it out after a strong start
The Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 at Amerant Bank Arena in Round 6 of the NHL 2026/2027 season. The win wrapped up a three-game homestand for Florida.
The decisive spell came in the first period, which Florida won 2-0. The second period finished 1-1 and the third 2-2, so Chicago never managed to close the gap opened early on.
Key moments
Sandis Vilmanis was the standout performer, scoring twice in the first two-goal game of his career. He also set up two goals to finish with four points on the night.
Sam Reinhart contributed a goal and two assists for the Panthers. For Chicago, Frank Nazar scored both of his side's goals credited in the top performers, while Ethan Del Mastro provided two assists.
The numbers
The period scores read 2-0, 1-1 and 2-2, with Florida's first-period advantage proving the difference. Vilmanis led all players with 4 points, ahead of Nazar's 2 points for the Blackhawks.
After this game Florida's record stands at 9-5-2, while Chicago's is 4-11-1.
What it means
The Panthers sit 10th of 32 teams with 20 points from 16 games, having won 9 and lost 5. They have scored 52 goals and conceded 47.
The Blackhawks are 31st of 32 on 9 points from 16 games, with 4 wins and 11 defeats. Their goal record of 36 scored and 63 conceded underlines the difficulty of their start to the season.
This article was written with automation from verified sports data and checked against that data before publishing. How we work
