Detroit Red Wings get sunny start to Florida trip with win vs Panthers
· Yahoo Sports
SUNRISE, FL – Daniil Tarasov returned to face his old teammates and Carter Mazur celebrated his first career NHL goal.
The Detroit Red Wings played the first of a quick – very quick – trip to the Sunshine State (though it was more of a stormy state outside Ameran Bank Arena on Monday, Nov. 2), opening with a visit to the Florida Panthers. Looking for a bounce-back after a blown opportunity at home, the Wings responded by banking two points over an Atlantic Division rival with a 5-3 victory.
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Tarasov, a former Panther, made 23 saves.
Justin Faulk and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard scored 45 seconds apart before the third period was three minutes old to give the Wings some breathing room. Faulk ripped a slapshot during a power play, taking advantage of Michael Rasmussen's screen, at 2:06, and at 2:53, Brandsegg-Nygard finished a nice feed from the corner from Lucas Raymond.
Sam Bennett cut it to a one-goal game with 3:20 to play, and the Panthers pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. But Emmitt Finnie scored an empty-net goal with 2.7 seconds on the clock.
Who played
The coaching staff opted to insert John Leonard, a minor-leaguer with a 1.17 points-per-game average with the Grand Rapids Griffins called up a day earlier, into the lineup over 2023 first-round draft pick Nate Danielson, who has struggled to establish himself as a regular. Leonard played on the third line, with J.T. Compher and Rasmussen. The other lines had Finnie with Alex DeBrincat and Viktor Arvidsson, Andrew Copp with Brandsegg-Nygard and Raymond, and Sheldon Dries with Mazur and Keegan Kolesar.
On the back end, Moritz Seider paired with Ben Chiarot, Justin Faulk with William Wallinder and Anton Johnasson with Andreas Englund.
Big goal
Mazur picked the puck off the boards and took advantage of Kolesar screening Jacob Markstrom to rip a shot from the left circle that sank into Florida's net. Kolesar grabbed the puck to commemorate Mazur's first career NHL goal. Seider was first to embrace the Jackson native, who was playing in his 18th career game with the Wings.
Mazur's goal marked only the fourth time this season the Wings have scored the first goal.
Panthers bite
Late in the first period, Tarasov went behind his net to rim the puck along the boards. But the puck ended up in a cluster of players and Carter Verhaeghe made a quick pass to Sam Reinhart in the slot. Reinhart shot stick-side to make it 1-1 at 14:19. The Panthers finished with 12 shots in the first period, to six by the Wings, who went nearly six minutes without a shot on Markstrom, from around the midpoint of the period to the four-minute mark.
The Panthers next goal was a dinger: The Wings were on a power play, but Markstrom denied DeBrincat and Arvidsson had his attempt blocked. The Panthers took possession, and rushed up ice, with Seider and DeBrincat back. Tarasov stopped Lars Eller and Ekblad, but Ekblad's second attempt, from behind the goal line, hit Tarasov's skate and went in the net, at 15:25 of the second period.
First in six
The Wings retook the lead 86 seconds into the second period. Faulk began a play into Florida's zone that forced Florida on its heels, and the Wings took advantage when Gustav Forslung fell after catching one of his skates on one of DeBrincat's. DeBrincat came up the right flank and Arvidsson up the left. Arvidsson fed a nice pass to DeBrincat for a wrist shot that netted DeBrincat's his seventh goal of the season, first in six games.
Next up: Lightning strikes?
The Red Wings (7-5-3) wrap up their two-day, two-game Sunshine State trip with a stop at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (7 p.m., Detroit SportsNet). The Bolts are dealing with their own trade-demand drama, as reigning MVP Nikita Kucherov has reportedly requested a move this season, as he’s not planning to re-sign after the season. The 33-year-old has gotten off to a slow start, with just four goals in 14 games, a 24-goal pace well off his 44 from last season. Still, the Lightning entered Monday holding the top wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference, though its 18 points were tied with the Panthers and the New York Islanders, a point up on the Wings.
After Tuesday’s game, the Wings return home to Little Caesars Arena to host the Vegas Golden Knights – the Stanley Cup runners-up – on Thursday.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings get sunny start to Florida trip with win vs Panthers