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Recap: Panthers make it ten straight with 6-1 win over Red Wings

Anton Lundell scored twice and Aleksander Barkov had pretty assists in the Florida Panthers 6-1 rout over the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.

Florida has now won a season-high ten games in a row, the second longest streak in franchise history.

The Panthers and Red Wings combined for 25 shots (13-12, Florida) in the first period, but thanks to the fine work of Spencer Knight and Alex Nedeljkoivc, neither team to could light the lamp.

Anthony Duclair cracked the first goose egg at 5:02 of the second when he ripped in a hard, rink-wide cross from Captain Barkov from the middle of the right circle. Brandon Montour collected the secondary assist on The Duke’s 31st of the season.

The Cats would go up by two a mere ninety second later. Petteri Lindbohm backhanded the puck out of his own zone to Mason Marchment, who crossed the blue line and chipped a pass into the slot for Sam Reinhart. Reinhart was able to quickly swat the rolling puck by Nedeljkovic, The assist was Lindbohm’s first point as a member of the Panthers.

Marchment, who didn’t get an assist, was able to force Jake Walman into coughing up the puck below the goal line and Lundell took possession and fed an incoming Reinhart. Nedeljkovic stopped Reinhart, but Lundell was to fling the rebound in for his first of the afternoon at the 14:23 mark.

Maxim Mamin scored for the second-straight game 28 seconds later, when he finished off Eetu Luostarinen’s backhand saucer centering pass from in close to cap a rush started by Patric Hornqvist, who was able to get the puck out of his own zone and send his linemates the other way with speed.

The Panthers kept pouring it on in the third and Lundell got his second of the game at 5:04 by converting a cheeky little no-look drop pass by Barkov, who stole the puck away from Lucas Raymond at center and then powered his way to the net with Moritz Seider draped on his back. Barkov made both of Detroit’s talented rookies look silly on his way to setting up a highlight reel shorthanded goal.

The Red Wings finally solved Knight at the 12:04 when Pius Suter was able to direct Jakub Vrana’s crossing pass home after the Red Wings quickly broke out with numbers. The second assist on Suter’s goal went to Filip Zadina.

Gustav Forsling would answer 1:10 later, absolutely smoking a pass from Claude Giroux that a weary-looking Nedeljkovic couldn’t stop. Montour collected his second secondary of the game, dropping below the goal line to help win a puck battle before handing off to Giroux. Forsling has cranked in seven goals in his last nine games.

The Red Wings tried their best to keep up with the Panthers – shots were 39-34 Florida and hits were 27-25 for the Cats – but Knight (33 saves) and the visitors deep cast of finishers were difference in what turned out to be a one-sided matinee from Motown. Florida has now won eight of its last nine games in Detroit. With its tenth win in a row, the Panthers reduced their magic number for clinching the top spot in the Eastern Conference down to five and are just two points back of the Colorado Avalanche in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy.

Gears & Sprockets

  • Despite the middling start to the season away from FLA Live Arena, Florida’s has now amassed 50 points on the road to break the old mark of 48 set in 2015-16 and won its 22nd road game to match the record from that same season. They’ve got four shots to break the wins record.
  • Jonathan Huberdeau had his thirteen-game point streak come to end. Huberdeau had a very quiet afternoon with just one shot on goal. Florida’s leading scorer remains two points behind Connor McDavid, with a game in hand, in the Art Ross Trophy chase.
  • Petteri Lindbohm’s assist was his first NHL point since he scored a goal as a member of the St. Louis Blues in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks back on March 1, 2015.
  • Pius Suter’s goal was his 14th of the campaign, tying his NHL career high set last season as a rookie with the Chicago Blackhawks.
  • Anton Lundell’s second goal was the first shorty of his career. The 20-year-old Finn is up to 18 goals and 43 points in 60 games played. The 43 points is fifth-best among NHL rookies.
  • For more on Florida’s third win over Detroit, visit Winging It In Motown. They’ll go for the sweep on Thursday./

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