Sandis Vilmanis has 1st 2-goal game, Panthers top Blackhawks 5-3 to cap homestand

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sandis Vilmanis had the first two-goal game of his career, Sam Reinhart provided a goal and two assists, and the Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Wednesday night to wrap up a three-game homestand. Seth Jones scored against his former team and Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who are 4-1-0 in their last five games and 7-3-0 in their past 10. Vilmanis added two assists to finish with four points. Florida improved to 9-0-1 when allowing three goals or fewer this season. Reinhart s goal was an empty-netter to seal the win with 1:27 left. Frank Nazar had two third-period goals and Roman Kantserov also scored for Chicago. Ethan Del Mastro got two assists — his first points of the season, and the first multi-point game of his career. Connor Bedard had two assists. The Blackhawks are 1-6-1 in their last eight games. They gave up the final five goals in a 5-2 home loss to Colorado on Monday, then got down 3-0 in Flor