Morning Box Score: Blackhawks Shred Panthers

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

The Blackhawks held on to their tenuous grasp of reaching the playoffs last night with a 4-0 shutout of the Florida Panthers at the United Center. Corey Crawford earned his fourth shutout of the season with a 23-save performance as the Blackhawks stuck to a defensive-minded game plan against the Panthers. Brent Seabrook, Viktor Stalberg, Patrick Kane and Tomas Kopecky all scored to give Crawford a comfort zone to work with. The win allowed the Hawks to stay in contention for a Western Conference playoff spot. But with three points separating the teams in contention from those looking to leapfrog them, there is no margin for error.