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Defending Stanley Cup champion Florida is among the six teams in action as the 2025-26 NHL season is underway.
The Panthers-Blackhawks game is tied at 2-2 in the second intermission, with Penguins–Rangers and Avalanche–Kings coming later. Follow live as The Athletic’s NHL writers cover all the action tonight.
Schedule (Times ET):
Streaming: Fubo (Stream Free Now). Get in touch with us: live@theathletic.com
Below are some of your thoughts on an entertaining second period between the Florida Panthers and Chicago Blackhawks:
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Quiet first two periods for Donato and Burakovsky. Blashill starts shaking up the lines late in the second period. We'll see if that continues. The Panthers have a 10-0 shot attempt advantage with Donato on the ice in 5v5.
Sam Rinzel has play a game-high 16:19 of ice time through two periods.
Sergei Bobrovsky kept this game tied with a lunging effort on this one-timer …
Not bad a 37-year-old goaltender.
Blackhawks played a much better in the second period. At 5-on-5, they had a 17-13 advantage in shot attempts and it was 9-9 in shots on goal. Levshunov looked more comfortable that period.
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P2 0:00 – Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2
Through 40 minutes, the Blackhawks and Panthers are deadlocked at two. Teuvo Teravainen's tying goal was the only scoring in the second period as Chicago went 0-for-2 on the powerplay.
A fun third period ahead.
P2 1:00 – Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2
Sensational save from Sergei Bobrovsky. On the odd-man rush, the Panthers goalie denies Colton Dach, showcasing the splits.
Bobrovsky is on the case in the season opener.
P2 2:07 – Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2
A.J. Greer takes a hard low check from Artyom Levshunov. He's slow to get to the bench, as there was pushing and shoving from both teams after the whistle.
Hope Greer is OK. To Mark's point earlier, Florida cannot afford to lose more forwards.
P2 5:10 – Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2
Almost five minutes left in the period, it's still a tie game. Florida is vastly outshooting Chicago 24-10 at this point.
Spencer Knight is keeping the Blackhawks in this game.
P2 8:45 – Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2
The Chicago Blackhawks are now 0-for-2 on the powerplay. Connor Bedard has a glorious chance on the slap shot but it's stopped courtesy of Sergei Bobrovsky.
Still a tie game with under 10 to play in the second period.
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P2 11:43 – Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2
Seth Jones takes a slashing penalty. For the second time tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks have a powerplay opportunity.
Can they seize advantage?
Is someone trying to test whether the Panthers are actually one of the deepest forward groups in the league with all of these injuries?
Woof …
The Blackhawks' second line of Teuvo Teräväinen, Frank Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi have been very OPPORTUNISTIC.
The Panthers have had a 10-2 advantage in shot attempts and have an 84 percent expected goals percentage when that line is on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick. But, those two shot attempts for that line have been goals. Nazar scored on a breakaway in the first period and he set up Teräväinen on a two-on-one chance early in the second period. Despite the game being lopsided otherwise, the Blackhawks are tied 2-2 with the Panthers because of that line.
Chicago hasn't been relevant on a national level since, really. the end of the 2016-17 season. Yet the Blackhawks still find themselves in marquee games like this one and the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field this past season. How eager is Gary Bettman to see Chicago — one of the biggest and most financially impactful markets in the league — get back on top?
“I love all my children and all my grandchildren the same but differently — I’m not going there,” Bettman said. “Listen, interestingly enough, last season was the first year, I believe, in the history of the game at the NHL level, that none of the American Original Six teams were in the playoffs. And that has impact in terms of the national following. But we go through it, we had a great playoffs. But we want all of our teams over time to have success.”
Evan Rodrigues is being helped off the ice and heads right back to the locker room, very slowly and in obvious pain. That'd be a huge blow to the Panthers' depth down the middle, which obviously already has taken a big hit with the Aleksander Barkov injury.
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P2 15:19 – Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2
Not much for Chicago on its first powerplay of the game. Florida successfully kills off the penalty and we're back to even strength.
Bad news for the Panthers as Evan Rodrigues heads to the dressing room, keeled over after taking a puck off his right leg.
Frank Nazar is on pace for 246 points. Well, a lot more than that really, but I can't pro-rate off the top of my head.
P2 18:01 – Blackhawks 2, Panthers 2
Right after Teuvo Teravainen scores, Brad Marchand takes a holding the stick penalty. It's Chicago's first powerplay of the game.