Four points in a single NHL game is a number only one other Latvian forward has reached in the regular season, and Sandis Vilmanis matched it on Wednesday night. The 22-year-old scored two goals and added two assists for the Florida Panthers in a 5-3 home victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, a career-best performance that made him the first star of the game, LSM reported.
Vilmanis, who had never recorded more than one point in an NHL game before this one, converted both of his shots on goal and finished with a plus-3 rating in 13 minutes and 34 seconds of ice time, TVNET Sports reported. He was involved in four of Florida’s five goals, Sportacentrs.com reported, and 1188.lv carried the same headline about the Latvian record being tied.
A Record That Stood for More Than 25 Years
The four-point game ties the mark set by Hall of Fame defenseman Sandis Ozolins, who recorded seven four-point games in his NHL career, two of them exactly 2+2, according to Sportacentrs.com. Ozolins first did it in 1994 with the San Jose Sharks against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and again in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche against the Phoenix Coyotes. His final four-point game also came against Chicago — a 3+1 performance on March 4, 2001, in a 6-3 Carolina Hurricanes win. That means more than 25 years passed between Ozolins’ last four-point game and Vilmanis’ 2+2, TVNET Sports noted.
Vilmanis is the first Latvian forward to reach four points in one regular-season NHL game, Sportacentrs.com reported. He also became the ninth player in Panthers history aged 22 or younger to record at least four points in a game; the previous one was Anton Lundell, who had five assists on Jan. 31, 2022.
How the Game Unfolded
Florida opened the scoring just five minutes in when Vilmanis finished a passing play from Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe, Sportacentrs.com reported. Verhaeghe doubled the lead on a power play after assists from brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk. In the second period, Vilmanis and Reinhart set up Seth Jones for a 3-0 advantage, though Roman Kantsyrov pulled one back for Chicago before the intermission.
Sandis THE-MAN-is 🤯 pic.twitter.com/7weqJslhTk
Chicago’s Frank Nazar scored shorthanded in the third period to make it 3-2, but Vilmanis answered 1 minute and 29 seconds later with an unassisted goal from a loose puck in the crease, restoring Florida’s two-goal lead, LSM reported. Nazar scored again to close within one, but with 87 seconds left Reinhart buried an empty-net goal off Vilmanis’ assist. The Panthers won their 10th home game against the Blackhawks and swept the season series, Sportacentrs.com reported.
Reinhart Surpasses Panthers Scoring Record
Reinhart finished with a goal and two assists, reaching 400 career points with the Panthers in his 401st game — 64 games faster than the previous franchise record holder, captain Aleksandr Barkov, according to Sportacentrs.com. Vilmanis now has three goals and four assists in 15 games this season, and six goals and six assists in his NHL career, LSM reported.
Defenseman Uvis Janis Balinskis also returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in four straight games, TVNET Sports reported. Ice time figures for Balinskis differ across outlets: Sportacentrs.com and TVNET list 18 minutes and one second, while LSM lists 17 minutes and 16 seconds. He had one shot on goal, two hits and a minus-1 rating.
The win left the Panthers seventh in the Eastern Conference with 20 points after 16 games, LSM reported.
SANDIS GETS HIS SECOND ✌️ pic.twitter.com/0sSqZH8x9H
What Comes Next for the Panthers
Florida’s 5-3 home win over Chicago settled the season series in the Panthers’ favor, with Vilmanis on the ice for four of his team’s five goals. For Latvian hockey, the milestone ends a drought of more than two decades since Ozolins’ last four-point night, and it arrives with Vilmanis still only 22 and in his second NHL season.
