After winning 5-3 over Carolina on Friday, the Detroit Red Wings (36-33-7) continued to stay alive in their push for the final wild-card spot Sunday evening with a 2-1 win vs. the Florida Panthers (44-29-4) from Little Caesars Arena.
Both teams entered the first intermission scoreless after Detroit could not capitalize on a Brad Marchand hooking call late in the first period. The Panthers would actually end the first period with a 10-7 shot advantage over the Red Wings.
The Red Wings opened the scoring on the powerplay with 15:23 left in the second frame after Lucas Raymond fed a cross-ice pass to Alex DeBrincat, who lasered a catch-and-release wrister from the right face-off dot past Panthers’ goaltender Vitek Vanacek to the upper corner on the far side.
For Debrincat, it is his 35th goal and 12th powerplay tallie on the season, giving him 65 points in 76 games played. Raymond picked up his 49th assist of the year alongside Patrick Kane’s (who gained entry into the zone to set up the scoring opportunity) 34th helper of the season.
Detroit would tack on another goal with 8:37 left in the second after Marco Kasper took a hit to make a play on the rush along the left-side boards by passing the puck to a streaking J.T. Compher, who fired a wrister from the left face-off dot past the glove of Vanacek on the far side of the net to increase the Red Wings lead to 2-0.
Compher’s goal is his 10th of the season, with Kasper picking up his 16th assist of the year and Jeff Petry collecting his 6th helper as the secondary assist on the play.
Florida would strike back with 40 seconds remaining in the third period as Anton Lundell tipped a Mackie Samoskevich shot from the left face-off dot through the legs of Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot with the extra-attacker on to bring the score to 2-1.
With the time dwindling in the final moments of the game, Cam Talbot made a spectacular save on Anton Lundell’s one-time shot from the right face-off dot as the veteran goaltender slid across the goal crease to snare the shot into his catching glove with 1.5 seconds remaining to preserve the Red Wings 2-1 victory.
Regarding special teams play, the Red Wings’ powerplay would finish 1-for-5 on the night, and their penalty kill would fend off the Panthers’ lone powerplay opportunity.
While Florida was significantly undermanned, with just under $44 million worth of players scratched or out of the lineup due to injury, the Red Wings took full advantage of the situation to secure a vital win on Sunday.
Even though the Red Wings gained two points in the standings, the distance between them (along with the New York Rangers, who hold the “regulation wins” tie-breaker) and the second wild-card spot held by the Montreal Canadiens remained at six points due to the Habs’ regulation win against the Nashville Predators later on Sunday night.
Detroit will have possibly one of their most impactful games up next as they travel to Centre Bell in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for a Tuesday night clash vs. the Montreal Canadiens (38-30-9) at 7 p.m. ET on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit.
If the Red Wings were to win in regulation over the Habs, they would once again keep their playoff hopes alive. However, if they lose in any fashion, it could be a potential death blow to their wild-card push.
Simply put, the Red Wings need to secure all 12 points (preferably a regulation win against the Canadiens) available in their final six games of the season to put themselves in the best position to make the playoffs. They will also need other teams to lose to help their cause, but that portion is out of their control.
