Vilmanis Erupts for Four Points as Panthers Edge Blackhawks 5-3

Sandis Vilmanis delivered the kind of night that changes how a coach sees a third-liner. The Latvian winger scored twice and added two assists, the first four-point game of his career, as the Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday. Florida's 5-3 victory was less comfortable than the scoreline suggests, but Vilmanis gave the Cats a reason to feel good about their depth.

Claw: Vilmanis is producing at a new level

The 22-year-old came into the game with three points in 14 contests. He left with seven in 15, and the jump was not a fluke. He opened the scoring, then produced Florida's fourth goal, which would have stood as the winner had Frank Nazar not scored twice in the third period to make it a one-goal game. Vilmanis was the best player on the ice in the first two periods, and the four-point night is a career-defining performance for a former fifth-round pick who is still hunting his first career hat trick.

That matters for the Panthers beyond one box score. Depth scoring is what separates a team that wins with its top six from one that wins across four lines, and Florida has leaned on its top names for much of the season. When a player on the bottom of the depth chart starts producing like this, the coaching staff gets more options on the power play, in matchup minutes and in the late-game shifts where a winger's confidence can decide who controls the puck. Vilmanis has earned more of those minutes, and the next few weeks will show whether the production holds.

Seth Jones and Carter Verhaeghe also got on the board, and Sam Reinhart added an empty-net goal to close the scoring. Florida has been building its scoring around multiple contributors in October and early November, and five hat tricks in the first month of the season is a good sign for a club that expects its skill players to carry the offense.

Flaw: Markström is giving away too many chances

The goaltending picture is harder to like. Jacob Markström started his second straight game, improved to 4-2-1 and stopped 17 shots, but he finished with an .850 save percentage. Against a team sitting second-to-last in the NHL standings, that is a number that should raise an eyebrow in the Panthers' front office.

The context is real. Sergei Bobrovsky walked in free agency and signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Panthers did not have a deep list of replacements. Bill Zito chose to bring Markström back, and the 36-year-old has a winning record to show for it. Wins are not the same as control, though. Markström kept letting Chicago back in the game after Florida built multi-goal leads, and the third period was the clearest example. He faced little traffic for long stretches, and when the Blackhawks finally pushed, he looked like a goalie who had gone too long between meaningful reps.

That's the uncomfortable part of this stretch. Markström's struggles are not only about rust. Teams in this position often need to find a rhythm through a steady workload, and a goalie who sees limited action can lose sharpness that's hard to rebuild in short bursts. Florida can keep riding wins as long as the offense keeps scoring, but the Monday loss to the Detroit Red Wings showed what happens when the goaltending does not hold up.

Claw: The power play is back in business

Remember the start? The Panthers went 1-for-28 on the power play early in the season, and that number looked like a crisis. Since then, the unit has gone 16-for-43 over the past 11 games, a 37.2 percent clip. Verhaeghe's power-play goal Wednesday was Florida's seventh man-advantage goal in its last five games, and six different Panthers have now scored with the extra skater.

Reinhart leads the group with six power-play goals, followed by Verhaeghe with five and Brady Tkachuk with three. The unit still ranks ninth in the league, which tells you the special teams are good rather than dominant. But a group that started 1-for-28 is now a group that can take a game over, and that changes how the Panthers can play a tight third period. My read is that the power play is the single biggest reason Florida can keep winning while the rest of the game feels shaky.

Flaw: Another struggling opponent hung around

Florida's habit of letting weaker teams stay alive has become a pattern. The Panthers held a comfortable 3-0 lead, then let Chicago get on the board before the second period ended and gave up two more in the third. Their previous games against the Detroit Red Wings and Winnipeg Jets followed a similar shape: a team near the bottom of its division found some momentum, and Florida didn't do enough to shut the door.

Yes, the Panthers held the Blackhawks to six shots in the final 20 minutes, and Chicago still scored on two of them. That's the part that should worry the coaching staff. Many would say Florida escaped Wednesday thanks to shaky goaltending on the other side, and that's fair. Spencer Knight made some key saves for Chicago, and a few more of them could have changed the score entirely. A team that wants to be a serious playoff contender has to be able to bury these games without needing the opposing goalie to cooperate. Monday's loss to Detroit is the reminder: a decent goalie can steal a game from you when the defense gives up too many late chances.

What's next for the Panthers?

After a brief two-game homestand, the Panthers hit the road this weekend. They visit Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Saturday, then close the weekend in Boston against the division-leading Bruins on Sunday. Those are two very different tests. Washington will test Florida's transition game and its defensive reads, while Boston will demand a steadier goaltending performance than Markström delivered on Wednesday.

If Vilmanis keeps this level of play and the power play keeps humming, Florida has the tools to handle a road trip. The question is whether the goaltending can stop giving away the late tension. Keep an eye on Markström's save percentage over the next two starts, because that number will say more about the Panthers' playoff path than another win will.