Aaron Ekblad came back, and the Florida Panthers made a return to their winning ways. Against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, no less.

Roberto Luongo stopped 27 shots for his fourth shutout of the season, Ekblad scored in his first game back after recovering from a concussion, and the Panthers easily handled the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-0, on Friday night to snap a four-game slide at Sunrise, Fla.

Florida had lost its last eight meetings with Chicago.

Reilly Smith, Quinton Howden and former Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell also scored for Florida, which took a 3-0 lead after one period.

The Blackhawks lost in Tampa on Thursday, after winning 12 straight to match the Panthers for the longest winning streak in the league this season.

Red Wings 3, Sabres 0 — All-Star rookie Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist, leading visiting Detroit past Buffalo.

Henrik Zetterberg and Luke Glendening also scored for the Red Wings, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Rangers 4, Hurricanes 1 — J.T. Miller scored twice in the second period and Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves to lead visiting New York over Carolina.

Avalanche 2, Blues 1 — Gabriel Landeskog scored the only goal of the shootout, lifting host Colorado over St. Louis.

Islanders 5, Senators 2 — Travis Hamonic and John Tavares each scored in the third period for visiting New York.

Larkin scored the winner with 7:59 remaining in the game, circling from behind the net to collect the rebound off a Glendening shot and banking the puck off the pads of Robin Lehner.

Sabres coach Dan Bylsma challenged that Larkin was offside as he carried the puck into the offensive zone, but the goal was upheld on replay.

Larkin’s goal came 41 seconds after the Sabres killed off a four-minute penalty on forward Marcus Foligno for high-sticking.

Buffalo has killed off all 19 penalties in its last six games.

Zetterberg scored the insurance goal with 2:51 left and Glendening added an empty-net goal with 48.8 seconds remaining.

Lehner made a season-high 42 saves for the Sabres, who have lost two straight. Lehner was coming off a 33-save performance in Buffalo’s 2-1 loss to Colorado and is now 0-3-0 this season.

The Red Wings had a 27-17 advantage in shots on goal after two periods, but were unable to score.

Lehner made 15 saves in the second period after stopping 12 in the first.

Lehner’s best save came three minutes into the second period when he slid across the crease to stop a point-blank shot from Justin Abdelkader. Three minutes later, Brendan Smith’s slap shot from the point got behind Lehner, hit the crossbar and bounced between Lehner’s legs before he covered the puck.

Larkin had a slap shot skim over the cross bar with about 13 minutes left in the third period.

Hamonic beat Andrew Hammond with a slap shot at 2:58 of the third to give New York a 3-2 lead and Tavares slipped a backhand past Hammond at 7:03 for some insurance.

Kyle Okposo scored on a bank shot off the backside of Ottawa defenseman Jared Cowen to finish the scoring.

Nick Leddy and Cal Clutterbuck also scored for the Islanders while Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves for the win.

Bobby Ryan and Erik Karlsson had goals for the Senators, who were coming off a five-game, 12-day road trip. Hammond had 29 saves.

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With a massive snowstorm expected, the NHL postponed the Capitals’ game against the Anaheim Ducks at Verizon Center in Washington, and said a decision about Sunday’s matinee will be announced tomorrow morning.

The decision to postpone the game is ultimately made by the NHL, and postponement will cause rescheduling headaches because the Ducks, who had arrived in Washington, are a West Coast team.

A new date hasn’t been decided yet. For one, teams can’t play three games in three nights, and the collective bargaining agreement also mandates a certain number of days off every month, so just adding a game later will be tricky.

The Verizon Center is also host to the Wizards, the Georgetown basketball team and concerts, so the league will have to find a day that works for both teams and is also a day the arena isn’t already occupied. That’s likely why the decision to postpone came just three hours before puck drop was scheduled, with the Ducks and many employees already in the building. Anaheim makes two additional trips to the East Coast this season: one in early February and one in mid-March.

The Ducks are scheduled to play in Detroit on Saturday night, assuming their flight leaves Dulles International Airport on Friday night.

The Capitals’ game against Pittsburgh on Sunday would depend on if the Penguins can get into Washington after their 12:30 p.m. game on Saturday, and though the NHL will announce a decision on Saturday morning, that game is expected to be postponed, too.

‘‘I would say D.C. is one of the worst cities for handling snow,’’ Penguins forward Eric Fehr, a former Capitals player, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. ‘‘If you get about an inch or even a threat of snow coming, the city shuts down.’’