Ahhhh just what a hot Red Wings team needed: a road trip to take on the Florida Panthers. The Red Wings have traveled to Sunrise, Florida, where it’s nearly as warm today as it will be here in Bendigo, Australia, to take on the reigning Eastern Conference champs. It’ll be an extremely tough matchup for a team that has won five of their last six and has looked great against some decent sides in the Los Angeles Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the Panthers have been about as good as anybody over the last couple of months. Before their current two-game skid, they rattled off nine consecutive wins. Their opponents during that time include the New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche, Kings and the Vegas Golden Knights twice.
The Red Wings will be without Patrick Kane who, with 16 points in 19 games, has been a very important offensive piece for this team. They’ll be relying on the other top players like Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat to pick up the slack there because they’re facing a very good defensive team on the other end. The Panthers come into the game third in goals against per game at just 2.56. On top of that, they have one of the hottest players in the entire NHL. Sam Reinhart has goals in seven consecutive games and in ten of his last 11. In that 11-game stretch, he has scored 14 goals. The Red Wings defense is gonna have to find a way to shut him down.
In goal for Detroit, Alex Lyon gets the start against his former team. He has fully locked down that starting role and has truly deserved it with his play this season. As for Florida, they send out two-time Vezina trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky, who has given the Red Wings fits pretty much his entire career. He has a career record of 25-6-1 and has won 20 of his last 21 starts against Detroit. When you have a team in Detroit who relies on scoring three or more goals to win a game this season, seeing a guy like Bob on the other side is terrifying. He comes into this game with a 21-10-1 record and a 2.44 GAA. We’ll see if the Red Wings can find a way to beat him and continue this hot stretch. Let’s get to it!
1st Period
The Red Wings get the first big chance of the game and it comes from maybe the hottest line on the team right now as Michael Rasmussen tries a wraparound and Andrew Copp pokes for the loose puck. However, Bobrovsky comes up with the save. The next few minutes feature some shots taken from a distance by both teams, not threatening either netminder. We head through the first five minutes very quickly and get a stoppage of play, sending us to the first media timeout.
Coming back from the break, David Perron gets a chance on a break, but a great defensive play keeps him from getting a shot. Another rush about 45 seconds later led by DeBrincat gives the Red Wings a great opportunity, but they aren’t able to create a shot once again. After a couple of minutes, they do a whole bit on the Bally Sports broadcast about Alex Lyon’s stare and it’s so absurdly funny and I love it and I love him. A minute or so later, a Panthers shot gets blocked by Daniel Sprong who leaves the ice very gingerly. The Panthers have six shots on goal at this point, but it feels like they all have been from outside and haven’t given Lyon any issues.
The Red Wings get some good possession for a little bit and get a good look for Shayne Gostisbehere. He fires the shot from the top of the point which Bobrosky gobbles up and sends us to the second media timeout. Shots are 6-6 halfway through the first. There was a scrum before the break and when we come back, there were offsetting minors for J.T. Compher for Detroit and Ryan Lomberg for Florida. Over the ensuing four-on-four, there’s a solid chance from a scrum in front of the net for Florida. Lyon gobbles it up and another scuffle starts up which then sends Ben Chiarot and Matthew Tkachuk to the box with offsetting roughing minors as well. We stay at four-on-four but after a good chance for Florida by Sam Bennett in which Lyon comes up big, Brandon Montour picks up a minor for slashing to put the Red Wings on their first power play.
The Red Wings get a couple of decent looks early in the first minute. However, after plenty of puck movement, they can’t get a good shot and that’s how the power play ends. It wasn’t like the power play couldn’t get set up. They just couldn’t get a look. They get another shot after the power play finishes up that Bobrovsky swallows up and it sends us to the final TV timeout of the period. We come back from the break with some back-and-forth and neither team creating anything.
The Panthers get the next chance off a shot from the point by Ekblad which Lyon covers up easily. Once again, there’s a battle in front afterward, and this time, Gostisbehere gets the only penalty sending Florida on their first power play. They show the replay and I have NO idea why he was the only one who got it. He did the same as literally everyone there except maybe he took off Tkachuk’s helmet. But if that’s it, that’s weak and hurts Detroit. For the first minute, the Red Panthers can’t get a shot on target. The puck movement is really solid but every shot they take misses. Apparently at one point, one of their shots hits Lyon but that’s the only shot on goal as the power play ends.
The Red Wings get a fantastic chance in the final 30 seconds of the period. DeBrincat loses the puck but gives Sprong a beautiful chance that Bobrovsky makes a fantastic save on. It’s the best save either goalie has made this game so far. The period comes to a close still tied 0-0. Shots were 10-9 in favor of Florida and the game was pretty much even with only one or two good chances for either team. The Red Wings will need to create more if they want to beat Bobrovsky but defensively, it has been a very good start.
2nd Period
It’s a slow start for both teams as neither team can get control. About two and a half minutes into the period, we get another scrum as this game continues to be chippy. Nothing dirty yet from either team, just a bunch of pushing and shoving after seemingly every whistle for a goalie covering the puck up. No penalties to either team on this one, but it’s something to keep an eye on going forward. Finally, with four minutes gone in the period, the Red Wings get a nice rush with four men going forward when Montour picks up another minor penalty, this one for interference on Sprong and we have another Red Wings power play.
There’s a lot of puck movement for the first minute but again, the Red Wings struggle to get a good look before eventually, Florida clears the zone. After a second clearance, Dylan Larkin tries to enter the zone but turns it over. Lucas Raymond goes to take the puck and looks like he absolutely gets hooked by Kulikov but there’s no call. Instead, Sam Reinhart skates in, and rifles it past Lyon to give the Panthers the 1-0 lead shorthanded. Wow, that absolutely looked like a penalty on Raymond but still, you can’t turn the puck over at the blue line on the power play. Not a good play by Larkin at all and the rest of the defense besides Raymond was standing around and Reinhart scored his 15th goal in his last 12 games because of it.
The power play comes to an end shortly after and we head to the first commercial break of the period. A couple minutes later, the Red Wings get a pair of incredible chances. Raymond makes a gorgeous move to get a chance at Bobrovsky but a solid defensive play makes it go past the side of the net. Just after, he gets the puck back and finds a wide-open David Perron who had a gaping empty cage to shoot into and he misses it wide. Wow, just an awful miss that really should’ve tied the game but instead, it’s still 1-0 Panthers.
The Panthers get a crazy chance of their own shortly after. Lyon makes a fantastic save and then the loose puck in front gets fired back at the net but Justin Holl makes a great skate save by the post. Shortly after, we get the second media timeout with the faceoff coming in front of Bobrovsky. Right off the draw, the puck gets over to Olli Määttä who fires a pick THAT GETS TIPPED BY RASMUSSEN AND PAST BOBROVSKY. THIS GAME IS TIED AT 1-1 ON RASMUSSEN’S TENTH GOAL OF THE YEAR!!!
The Red Wings needed that badly to try and grab some momentum back. But unfortunately, it’s short-lived. The Panthers go right down the other way and after a save is made in front off of a Gustav Forsling shot, he then smacks the bouncing puck off of Larkin’s stick and Lyon had no way of being ready for it. It beats him to his right and 16 seconds later, the Panthers have taken the lead right back. Just a rough goal to give up and there was nothing Lyon could do. If anything, Larkin really should’ve cleared the puck out of the front instead of trying to skate it out from the slot. Either way, it’s 2-1 Panthers with just over eight minutes to play in the second.
A couple of minutes later, the Red Wings get a solid chance off a Justin Holl shot from the point, but Bobrovsky makes the save. A minute or so later, Kulikov gets a similar shot that Lyon swallows up to send us to the final TV timeout of the second period. Coming back from the break, the Panthers immediately get a phenomenal chance as Reinhart gets found wide open in the right circle. Compher gets a piece of the slap shot and the fluttering puck gets saved by Lyon. That was a very tough save off the deflection and kept the score at 2-1.
There are a couple more ok chances for Florida that Lyon easily deals with. Gostisbehere then gets a look for Detroit that seems to fool Bobrovsky a little as it pops up but falls harmlessly to a Panthers player. In the final minute of the period, Sprong picks up a holding penalty that, yeah, definitely a hold and puts the Panthers on the power play for the remainder of the second period with just 54.3 seconds to play. They move the puck around well but can’t find a look and get no shots before the puck is cleared to end the period.
The score is 2-1 Panthers and shots for the period were 13-10 in favor of Florida. It was a rough period for Detroit and both goals were easily preventable. Sleeping defenders and a bad turnover were responsible for the first one and a bad decision to not clear the puck cost them the second. And yet, they’re still only down one. Unfortunately, it’s against the best third-period team in hockey. We’ll see if Detroit can come out and set the tone early in the final frame.
3rd Period
We return with Florida still on the power play. They throw a couple of shots toward the net from distance but don’t create any good chances before their own bad pass clears the zone. The power play comes to an end with just the two shots, neither of them threatening at all. A couple of minutes later, the Panthers do get another good look after Montour finds a rebound back door but Lyon makes a good save to keep it a one-goal game. Outside of that chance, the first five minutes is a bunch of back and forth with neither team getting any threatening chance.
Around the 14-minute mark, Michael Rasmussen does an incredible shop holding the puck and cycling and looking for an open look. Finally, he finds Robby Fabbri who skates into the slot, takes the shot, AND PUTS IT PAST BOBROVSKY!!! 2-2 OFF OF FABBRI’S 13TH OF THE SEASON!!! That line has been hot leading up to this game and they now have both goals as Rasmussen picks up his second point of the game. What a huge goal to tie this game up with 13:45 remaining in regulation.
There’s a long stretch of play as there’s still no media timeout coming. The Panthers get a prime chance with Bennett receiving a beautiful between-the-legs pass from Tkachuk in the slot, but Lyon comes up huge and makes the save to keep this game tied. We finally head into the first media timeout with 11:23 remaining in the third period. Shots are 6-4 in favor of the Panthers for the period so far but it’s the Red Wings with the only goal so far in the period.
A couple of minutes go past without a lot happening but the Red Wings get a really good look with about nine minutes to play. Gostisbehere comes from the left circle and fires a wrist shot that deflects off the iron. A great chance to give the Red Wings the lead and they get another chance shortly after. Sprong gets a chance and he hits the iron and sends it up into the netting. Wow, two huge chances less than a minute apart and it’s still tied up. We head to the second media timeout with just over eight minutes to play.
Coming back from the break, there are a couple of good chances by Florida. One comes off a scramble in front and another from the point, but both get saved by Lyon who has now made 30 saves this game with seven minutes to play. There’s a bit of back and forth when Fabbri trips Evan Rodrigues in the neutral zone. However, they end up taking Rodrigues for embellishment as well so the two teams will come back from the final media timeout at four-on-four.
The entire first half of the four-on-four is spent in the Detroit defensive zone. There’s a scary chance as Reinhart rifles a wrist shot from the slot, but it goes over the net. The Red Wings never really got a chance during the four-on-four but the Panthers only got the one shot from Reinhart. So much for wide-open hockey. We’re down to the final three minutes with the game still tied 2-2. It really feels like both teams are playing desperately to not lose in regulation as neither team seems that aggressive. We get to the final minute of regulation with only one shot for either team in the past two minutes, each being weak shots from outside.
Then, with 38.9 seconds left in regulation, Ekblad gets his stick stuck in DeBrincat to send the Red Wings to the power play. A huge penalty late in the game which means if it goes to over time, there will be more than a minute of four-on-three. The Red Wings lose the faceoff and the Panthers clear the puck out. The Red Wings never get the puck back into the Panthers end and actually give Florida a good chance to take the lead with ten seconds to go, but Lyon makes the save and we are headed to overtime. Shots were 11-9 in favor of Florida for a regulation total of 34-28. There will be 1:21 of power play time for Detroit to start overtime.
Overtime
The Red Wings get set up in the offensive end on the power play. There’s an absolutely beautiful chance but there’s a fantastic block on a Perron shot by a Panthers defenseman. Gostisbehere gets the puck to Larkin in the slot and he FIRES A WRIST SHOT PAST BOBROVSKY!!! 3-2, RED WINGS WIN ON THE OVERTIME WINNER BY THE CAPTAIN!!! THE RED WINGS BEAT THE PANTHERS IN SUNRISE!!! THE RED WINGS BEAT SERGEI BOBROVSKY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NINE GAMES!!! OH BABY, WHAT A WIN!!!
Conclusion
Wow, what a win. A huge win to end a ten-game losing streak against Florida dating back to the COVID season. Just a phenomenal fightback when everything could’ve fallen apart after the goal to make it 2-1. That’s a damn good Panthers team that Detroit just beat on the road and they now find themselves in third place in the Atlantic division, just seven points behind those very Panthers. It continues the hot streak in which they will need to continue facing a tough Hurricanes team on the road on Friday.
Some shoutouts, Alex Lyon was great again making 32 saves on 34 shots. Honestly, the defense didn’t allow too many crazy chances, and outside the short-handed goal, looked pretty good this game. The offense had a very tough challenge against a phenomenal defensive team, but it’s the Copp-Ras-Fabbri line coming up big once again with both goals in regulation. It’s a massive win and the Red Wings will look to continue that in Raleigh on Friday. Have a good night y’all.
