The Florida Panthers
took the game away from the Red Wings and never looked back Sunday evening. A hat
trick from Colton
Sceviour allowed their team to defeat the Red Wings 5-2
at Joe Louis Arena.
Detroit’s tough one goal loss to the Boston Bruins has them
wanting to get back to winning after their six-game winning streak came to an
end. Jimmy Howard had a good night in net putting up big saves for the Red
Wings but the offense struggled from start to finish to end sixty minutes with
no goals in net. Facing the Panthers at home gives them a better chance to do
well against them as they fell to Florida on the road when the season began.
While their opponents remain one of the strongest teams in the Atlantic Division,
getting an edge on them would be top priority despite not having Tomas Vanek on
the roster for the second straight game.
The Panthers were the only ones to record a shot on goal in
the opening six minutes of the game. When they earned a man advantage, Florida
nailed one in on the shot of Sceviour notching his third of the year. He
quickly made it two straight with another during even strength that sent a
cause for concern on the Detroit bench. Coach Jeff Blashill took advantage of the
TV timeout to get his team back in control and recover from the large deficit
that they find themselves.
They regained ground by playing more actively in the Florida
zone but getting shots by James Reimer was difficult. To make matters worse,
the Panthers added another to make it 3-0 on a two on one that allowed Jonathan
Marchessault to score his sixth of the season. The period ended with Detroit
clearly responding to the onslaught of Florida but gaining no goals in twenty minutes
was the biggest issue. The six giveaways were another key problem for the Red
Wings to settle up going into the second period.
Dylan Larkin was the one to make things happen for Detroit
as he got the team on the board 2:36 into the second. It was quickly silenced
at 5:02 when Vincent Troichek scored on an overwhelming 3 on 1 that gave
Florida a 4-1 rout with much of the period left to go. Most of the period saw
the Red Wings push the envelope and bring the heat to deal with the lopsided score.
They outshot Florida but with four minutes left, things only got worse.
Sceviour conducted his way to a first career hat trick taking the puck away
midway in the Florida zone. The Panthers forward skated into the Detroit end
passing a shot that went off Brendan Smith, off the pads of Mrazek and back to
Sceviour to score.
As forty minutes came to a close, the realization of a
comeback was dim for the Red Wings to make a miraculous recovery despite
outshooting Florida 19-10 in the period. With the third period left to go, Detroit
had to do whatever possible to reel in the margin or suffer a very rough
defeat.
The third period saw the Panthers playing a strong line of
defense to hold their four-game margin together. For ten minutes their game
went really well with the stop of every chance that Detroit brought on the ice.
Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith made a statement midway through the period
to put another goal on the board for his team. With help from Frans Nielsen and
Riley Sheahan, the two set up Smith with a scoring chance to bring the deficit
down to three.
The mission never found its way to take course as the Red Wings
played out the last ten minutes of regulation with very little chances on net
and a strong Florida defense that put them away. Detroit outshot 36-24 but the
blocked shots and numerous giveaways played a strong role in the Red Wings demise.
They’ll get the day off Monday before trying to recover from a two-game losing
streak before taking on the Philadelphia Flyers on a short road game Tuesday.
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