Panarin puts away Penguins for Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks opponents have found out all season that it's not a good idea to give Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov and Patrick Kane much time to operate.
Just a second or two is all it takes for one of them to burn you with a dazzling backdoor pass or a wicked shot.
So when the Hawks controlled the puck for a whopping 59 seconds in the offensive zone during the first period of their 3-1 win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday night at the United Center, the Penguins had to know they were in deep trouble.
And they were.
As seconds 56, 57 and 58 went by, Panarin wheeled through an exhausted Pittsburgh defense and ripped a shot over the right shoulder of Marc-Andre Fleury for the first of his 2 goals on the night.
Then with the game tied at 1-1 in the third period, the Penguins found out why giving Panarin even a split second can be lethal. After Anisimov took a faceoff in the offensive zone, the puck squirted to Panarin and the Russian phenom snapped home another shot, this time over Fleury's left shoulder with 11:04 remaining.
"The two goals there, top corner, just amazing (with) the little time that he has, he gets off that shot," Andrew Desjardins said. "He picks a perfect spot and (there's) no chance for the goaltender. It's pretty amazing stuff."
Panarin has 15 goals on the season and 4 in the last two games - all coming against Fleury.
"Yeah, I'd heard about him," Fleury said. "I'd seen him and stuff. He (ticked) me off now, though."
The Hawks' other goal came from Teuvo Teravainen, an empty-netter with 1:06 remaining.
Fleury was sensational all night, making save after save after amazing save. He turned away 34 shots, the most stunning of which came when Trevor van Riemsdyk unloaded from just 15 feet away with 5:29 left in the second period. Van Riemsdyk lay on the ice for a moment in shock after Fleury lunged and kicked the puck away with his right leg.
"He did make some key saves - one on (van Riemsdyk) in the second period was high end," Quenneville said. "We had some good looks."
Panarin, though, was the only one to cash in. Anisimov, who played one of his best overall games of the season, screened Fleury on Panarin's first goal as an exhausted Penguins defense was on its heels.
"Yeah, you could tell things were opening up. Those shifts are fun," Kane said. "It seems like when you have the puck and you're moving it around … you have all the energy in the world. And when you're trying to defend it you seem to lose the energy.
"I thought we had a great shift there … and finished it off the right way with a goal."
The Hawks have won five straight, are 12-4 in their last 16 and 25-13-4 overall. They are in second place in the Central Division, just 6 points behind a Dallas Stars team that is 1-3-1 in its last five games.
The Hawks will host Buffalo, Colorado and Nashville over the next five days before playing nine of the next 11 on the road.
• Follow John's Hawks reports on Twitter @johndietzdh.