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Penalties cost Panthers in 5-2 loss to Red Wings

Jan 16, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin (71) celebrates after scoring against the Florida Panthers during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Florida Panthers surrendered three power-play goals and Sergei Bobrovsky got yanked in a disappointing 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida was able to fight back and tie the game after each of Detroit first two power-play goals, but its sputtering offense couldn’t keep up with the Red Wings on this night.

Down one after Jonatan Berggren wired a shot past Bobrovsky at 8:48 (assists to Erik Gustafsson and Vladimir Tarasenko) with Evan Rodrigues off for tripping, Anton Lundell countered 2:13 later when he knocked the rebound of Carter Verhaeghe’s shot out of the air after Cam Talbot made the initial save. The second assist on Lundell’s tenth of the season went to Dmitry Kulikov.

The Red Wings regained the lead 7:52 into the second with Nate Schmidt serving a hooking minor. After Alex DeBrincat cut from left to right, he dished off to Patrick Kane, who went back door to Dylan Larkin and he redirected the aerial pass into the back of the net.

Rodrigues would atone for his first period penalty by taking a crisp cross from rookie Mackie Samoskevich and beating Talbot from the top of the right circle with a beautiful wrister that found the upper corner far-side 29 ticks after Larkin’s marker.

The parade to the penalty box continued and Detroit cashed in again at the 13:44 mark. This time, Patrick Kane loaded up and whipped a wrister by Bobrovsky after receiving a pass from Lucas Raymond. The secondary helper on PPG-3 went to defenseman Moritz Seider.

Marco Kasper ended Bobrovsky’s night when he collected the puck from Larkin and sped into the Florida zone before unleashing a bullet at 15:41 that put the Red Wings in a commanding position, considering the Panthers recent scoring woes.

The Cats strafed Talbot with a whopping 23 shots in the third period, but couldn’t turn on the red light, resulting in yet another frustrating defeat to a team trailing them in the standings.

Spencer Knight stopped all four shots faced in mop-up duty and watched from the bench as Larkin hammered in the final nail, from Kasper and Raymond, with an empty-netter with 1:22 left on the clock.

Paul Maurice and crew need to find answers when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday evening. The Panthers are 4-6-1 since December 23, and two-thirds of its top six are currently going through a ice age in hockey terms. Aleksander Barkov has one goal in his last 12 games; Matthew Tkachuk has one goal in his last 13 games; Carter Verhaeghe has one goal in his last 14 games; and Sam Bennett hasn’t dented the twine in his last 19 games. Bennett’s most recent goal came on December 3, against Pittsburgh.

Starts & Stalls

  • While Cam Talbot was earning Third Star honors for his 41-save gem, Sergei Bobrovsky lost his third consecutive start. Bobrovsky, who departed with 11 saves on 15 shots, has given up 12 goals in his last three outings.
  • The Red Wings power play has been dangerous all season, but they’ve really ratcheted it up lately. Detroit is an en fuego 17-of-34 since Todd McLellan took over as head coach.
  • In addition to becoming the seventh Panther to hit double-digit goals, Anton Lundell matched Niko Mikkola with a team-high five hits.
  • Uvis Balinskis finished the game with five shots and two hits. The Panthers led 31-4 in 5-on-5 shot attempts when Balinskis was on the ice.
  • In his first game back in Sunrise since joining the Red Wings, Vladimir Tarasenko assisted on the game-opening goal and was credited with three hits and two blocks.

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