“Should have shutout” “Just had perfect morning”: NHL fans react as Florida Panthers secure dominating 5–1 win against Chicago Blackhawks

On Saturday, the Florida Panthers secured a 5–1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Amerant Bank Arena. Florida improves to 31-19-3, while Chicago falls to 16-31-5 in defeat.

Florida has won five of its last seven games, going 5-2-0. It also overtook the Toronto Maple Leafs and is now first in the Atlantic Division with 65 points. Panthers fans were happy with their team's recent performance.

"Should have had a shutout but no complaints here," one tweeted.

"Just had a purrfect morning already," another tweeted.

"Perfect Caturday for the defending champs. 900 wins for Paul Maurice. Reino scored his 30th of the SZN. Welcome back, Gadjo. Handled business well. #TimeToHunt," another fan tweeted.

As the fan wrote, this was Paul Maurice's 900th career win. He is fourth all-time in NHL head coaching regular-season wins, 14 behind Barry Trotz for third place. These are impressive numbers from the veteran bench boss.

Panther fans felt good after crushing the Blackhawks and reacted on X.

"We own them," a fan tweeted.

"We didn't play down to the Blackhawks. BIG DUBBBSS," another fan tweeted.

"Ez dub," one fan tweeted.

The Florida Panthers now hold a three-point lead atop the Atlantic Division

Following Saturday's 5–1 win over Chicago, the Florida Panthers (65 points) now have a three-point cushion on the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Atlantic Division lead.

Toronto, which scored 62 points, will face a tough test on Saturday in Edmonton against the Oilers. The Oilers currently have two games in hand on the Panthers. Ottawa (58 points) and Tampa Bay (57 points) also can't be counted out as they have two and three games in hand on Florida respectively.

The Panthers and the Maple Leafs will also see each other three more times this regular season, so the race for the Atlantic Division is far from finished.

The Cats will finish the second half of a back-to-back weekend set of home games on Sunday against the New York Islanders. The puck drops at 6 p.m. EST at Amerant Bank Arena.