A great moment for the Red Wings finally arrived at the BB&T Arena Saturday night. What almost became a complete downfall turned into a much-needed win for Detroit as Gustav Nyquist scored in overtime beating the Florida Panthers 4-3. It brought an end to the Wings seven-game losing streak to get one during their final road game of the week.
Detroit continued to search for a victory after letting things get out of their grasp Thursday. The Red Wings had Tampa close on the scoreboard keeping them at bay on getting too many opportunities but slipped late in regulation to lose 3-1. With their record still missing a win of any kind, Detroit would try to end their slide with Jonathan Ericsson back in the lineup with the need for the veteran defenseman on the blue line. Florida would try to keep their division rivals down after pulling off a victory in a shootout against the defending champions creating a winning streak.
Despite needing to fly home, the Panthers got control of the puck first with Trocheck firing one at Jimmy Howard in net for Detroit. The Red Wings almost had one in the second minute with Larkin taking a scoring chance but as Helm gained a hold, the puck bounced to negate his shot at a wide open net. Both teams traded shots the next several minutes with the Panthers edging Detroit by a short margin despite being beaten at the faceoff dot.
They made a difference with Evgeny Dadonov skating the puck in with Detroit d-men Dennis Cholowski and Joe Hicketts trying to stop him. They missed Keith Yandle who got ahead of them to receive the puck firing a wrister that rung into the net for his first with the team. Detroit scored shortly after with Michael Rasmussen firing a puck that went through traffic and down the five-hole of Michael Hutchinson. Florida coach Bob Boughner challenged the call that Justin Abdelkader made contact with Hutchinson near the crease. Officials reviewed the video and agreed that there was enough to wave off Rasmussen’s first ever goal.
The Red Wings gained some momentum to level up with the Panthers but getting on the board was still a challenge with Hutchison still making great stops on them. It was 2-0 with under four minutes left as Florida won the faceoff where a one-timer from Nick Bjugstad went in behind Howard for his second. They didn’t record another shot in the remainder of the period but had the gap wide open after 20 minutes against Detroit.
The Red Wings made sure to get a great start to begin the second period earning a lot of puck time. They had plenty of shots get to Hutchinson before they scored back to back penalties by the Panthers. With a 5 on 3 chance, they made good on the first one right from the faceoff where Cholowski scored his second of the season seven seconds into the power play. Andreas Athanasiou got hold of the loose puck bringing it out to the far end where he made the pass to the 20-year-old.
While still a man up on Florida, they quickly made it 2-0 18 seconds later with veterans Frans Nielsen getting it to Tomas Vanek for his second. Dylan Larkin earned a goal during his milestone 250th NHL game as the Red Wings were hot to take the lead away from the Panthers. It took them 2:03 to accomplish that feat which sent Boughner to call a timeout to regroup his squad.
Florida only had four shots since Detroit’s lead change, but gained a power play at 10:39. Nothing came of it with Howard and the Detroit PK doing work to clear it out. They got into trouble again 47 seconds later with Vanek getting called for slashing. Detroit penalty killing unit was back out pushing the puck out of their zone giving the Panthers little opportunity to fire any clean drives. Detroit was 2-0 but had to deal with another one for Florida as they took another penalty. It was a tick-tack-toe moment for the Red Wings who were rewarded late with their second power play to try and increase the margin on the scoreboard. Although it didn’t come, there was a lot for Detroit to happy with as they made good on controlling the period from start to finish.
The Red Wings continued a man advantage into the third stanza but couldn’t get another one through Hutchinson. They suffered another penalty as Cholowski hooked captain Aleksander Barkov giving him a penalty shot. As he went for his attempt on Howard, the Panthers captain whiffed on the puck negating his chance to level the score. They got another chance to make it happen as a team but the Red Wings PK achieved a fourth consecutive kill.
Detroit had yet to record a shot on goal in the period which was a concern with 12 minutes left in regulation. Florida was playing strong defense to stop the Red Wings from getting any good scoring chances. They got into a run as the Panthers threatened to level the score but couldn’t with Howard still intent on helping his team get a victory in hand. As they made the stops, Detroit looked for ways to gain the turnover and went after Hutchinson where they nearly got one behind him.
It was a rally of shots for both teams with six minutes left with Florida still outshooting the Red Wings. They gained a fifth power play but Detroit’s PK came to make it a tough night where they had another shorthanded chance that Hutchinson stopped. The Red Wings possessed in the final seconds to kill off their fifth straight with two and a half to play. Boughner chose to pull Hutchinson from the net to give the Panthers a 6 on 5 advantage. Detroit added some physical power to push the puck beyond the neutral zone killing time off the clock.
A lucky break for Florida arrived on a great win during a neutral zone faceoff. With their fight for the puck, the Panthers got a man to stretch it into the Detroit zone where Mike Hoffman’s shot goes through Howard for his second to tie things up with 1:16 left. Just when it looked as if the Red Wings would have it locked up, they were once again finding themselves in an overtime situation for the third time.
Both quickly tested their opposing goaltenders with Howard and Hutchinson both made great stops. Many scoring chances were taken by both teams with the goalies still making the great saves to keep it even while the clock continued to run. When there were 90 seconds left, the feelings of a shootout were in the minds of everyone but a final break for Detroit put that to rest. Nyquist in his first shift of 3 on 3 came off the bench to get ahead into the Florida zone. He got the puck from Larkin to go in alone on Hutchinson and score the game-winner with 1:16 left on the clock for his first of the season. “To get that first win out of the way feels nice,” said Nyquist who already had six points this season.
Aside from the team as a whole getting the monkey off their backs, Howard also ended his slide with a solid performance that counted in the end. The 34-year-old stopped 34 for a .919 save percentage.
“It’s huge for us,” Larkin said to FSD’s John Keating after the game. “It was huge to get our veterans back in the lineup. I thought those guys played the right way every night and they are huge for us during this trip and tonight it was enough.” Detroit was outshot 37-31 but the real deal was winning on the faceoff taking 57 percent from the dots and stopping every single one of Florida’s power plays. “We felt like our troubles were coming to an end tonight and didn’t get rattled,” said Larkin. “When they went up two early in the first and didn’t when they scored that one late. Everyone chipped in and it’s a great team win after a tough road schedule.”
They get Sunday off to prepare to add more wins to their bottom line when they host the Carolina Hurricanes back in Detroit on Monday.
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