Blackhawks rookie forward Philipp Kurashev scored the first goal of his NHL career during the third period of Tuesday’s game against the Panthers.
Kurashev’s speed through the neutral zone has been noticeable in his brief NHL career, and he used that to his advantage for his first NHL goal. After corralling the puck near his own blue line, Kurashev skated the puck into the offensive zone, used Florida defenseman Radko Gudas as a partial screen and snapped a wrist shot past Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
Not only was it the first goal of Kurashev’s career, it also gave the Blackhawks their first lead of the season: a 4-3 advantage over the Panthers.