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 Left winger Patrick Sharp was the only player to take a shot in
the second extra period, scoring on Florida goalie Roberto Luongo.
While the win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Blackhawks,
they played most of the contest without All-Star right winger
Patrick Kane, who left the game with an upper-body injury and did
not return.
"(When that happens) you go through the range of emotions, you're
angry, upset, give up a two-goal lead and then pull it out in the
shootout," Sharp said. "I guess you can feel good about the two
points and getting a win on home ice."
The Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc tweeted that he heard the injury was
a broken collarbone, but the team did not confirm the report.
It is uncertain if Kane will be lost for any prolonged period of
time, but left winger Kris Versteeg, who scored one of Chicago's
goals, said things don't look good.
"Obviously, we were ticked off when the best player in the league
got hurt," Versteeg said of Kane. "It's going to be an uphill
climb."
Kane, who leads Chicago in goals (27), assists (37) and points (64),
was injured at 7:49 of the first period when he was slammed on a
cross-check by Florida defenseman Alex Petrovic, who was penalized
on the play.
Kane was able to leave the ice under his own power, but was in
obvious pain as he did so and did not return to the bench.
Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said the team will know more about
Kane's condition on Wednesday and if he may miss a prolonged period
of time. But Quenneville conceded that the team will likely call up
a player from its AHL affiliate in Rockford, Ill., to take Kane's
roster spot for the time being.
"Kaner doesn't miss much," Quenneville said. "He's a valuable guy, a
buddy, he's having one of those years that's very noticeable."
If Kane's absence is lengthy, Quenneville said his team knows what
it has to do.
"The guys still have to stick with it," he said. "You have to go
with what you've got, contribute as best you can and playing the
right way will be emphasized as we go along."
Ironically, in most shootout situations, Kane is the first or second
player that takes the first attempt for Chicago.
"Joel calls your name and number, you go out there and do the best
you can," Sharp said. "I wanted to score, that's for sure, for a lot
of different reasons, mostly for to give our team a good chance to
win, but also the guy that usually shoots there scores."
When asked how Chicago replaces Kane, Sharp replied, "That's a good
question. You can't replace what he does with the puck or without
the puck. One of the strengths of our organization is depth. When a
player goes down, we step up and try to collectively fill those
shoes."
Chicago, which wrapped up its longest homestand of the season with a
3-2-3 mark, improved to 36-20-5 overall, with rookie goalie Scott
Darling earning the win in place of the slumping Corey Crawford.
Darling, who is now 3-0 in overtime games, turned back all but two
of Florida's 36 shots.
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Florida (26-22-12) lost its third game in a row and seven of its
last 10.
Veteran goalie Roberto Luongo stopped 36 of Chicago's 38 shots.
"We would've loved the two points, but down 2-0 against Chicago in
their building, real good hockey team, it was good character from
our team to come back and get that point," Florida coach Gerard
Gallant said.
Chicago, which had scored just one first period goal in its previous
seven games (five were losses, including the last three), stepped
forward midway through Tuesday's opening stanza to take a 1-0 lead.
Center and team captain Jonathan Toews picked up his own rebound and
drilled a six-foot into Florida's net to the left of Luongo.
Coming on the power play, it was Toews' 18th goal of the season.
Chicago made it 2-0 when Versteeg scored his 13th goal of the season
at 14:28 of the second period, tallying against his former team.
Versteeg's wrist shot marked his fourth goal in the last six games.
Sharp assisted on the play, earning the 500th point of his NHL
career.
Florida finally got on the scoreboard at 12:23 of the third period
when left winger Jussi Jokinen tallied his sixth goal of the season,
closing Chicago's lead to 2-1.
Florida tied the game at 16:31 on center Vincent Trocheck's fifth
goal of the season, a wrist shot that got under Darling's glove and
just barely crossed the goal line. Darling tried to push the puck
back, but a video review by officials confirmed the tally.
NOTES: Chicago is expected to be without D Johnny Oduya for at least
two weeks after he suffered an upper-body injury in Sunday's loss to
Boston. The Blackhawks recalled F Joakim Nordstrom from the AHL
affiliate in Rockford, Ill, to take Oduya's roster spot. ... The
Blackhawks are expected to reactivate D Trevor van Riemsdyk in the
next few days. ... Panthers general manager and former Blackhawks
star Dale Tallon made the road trip to scout his former team for
possible acquisitions prior to the upcoming NHL trade deadline.
Tallon shipped LW Sean Bergenheim and a 2016 seventh-round draft
pick to Minnesota for a 2016 third-round selection on Tuesday. ...
Tuesday's scratches were LW Daniel Carcillo, D Johnny Oduya and D
Tim Erixon for Chicago, and C Dave Bolland and RW Tomas Kopecky for
Florida.
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