The Detroit Red Wings had one of their better starts — and it was nowhere near good enough to deal with an elite opponent.
The Wings had jump, and they generated chances Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena, but the Florida Panthers showed why they’re in contention for the Presidents’ Trophy. They doubled their leads twice in short amounts of time and also scored shorthanded to come away with a 6-1 victory.
“Against this team you either have to be perfect or you have to score, and we weren’t perfect and we didn’t score,” coach Jeff Blashill said.
It was the third game in a six-game stretch against opponents who have clinched a playoff spot. The Wings won the first, but have one goal in their past two games combined.
The Panthers scored four times in the second period, and added a goal at 5:09 of the third period while the Wings were on a power play. Aleksander Barkov picked off Moritz Seider and drove on net before leaving a drop pass for Anton Lundell to score his second of the game. Pius Suter ended Spencer Knight’s shutout bid at 12:04 of the third period when he scored off the rush, finishing a pass from Jakub Vrana. The Panthers came right back and scored a minute later, with Gustav Forsling firing a shot from the blue line.
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Alex Nedeljkovic, coming off a 46-save shutout Thursday at Carolina, faced 39 shots. The Wings registered 34.
“They got two quick, three quick, and we didn’t respond,” Dylan Larkin said. “We had a good start, Ned played well, and then they just scored and we didn’t respond.”
The Wings (29-37-10) next play Tuesday at the Tampa Bay Lightning, one of six games left on the schedule.
Easter rising
The Wings played with an energy that was missing in their previous two first periods. They got out of their zone, won puck battles, and held their own against one of the top teams in the NHL. Larkin had one good chance when he used his speed to pounce on a loose puck near Florida’s net, but his shot clanked off a goal post. Then Larkin again used his speed to weave through defenders and drive to the net; he skated past it before being able to get off a shot, but there was no teammate near the paint to finish the play. All in all, it was a solid period for the Wings, with shots at 13-12 favoring Florida.
Eggs in the basket
The disparity in talent between the teams was highlighted by the third lines. The Wings (who didn’t have Oskar Sundqvist because of an undisclosed injury) had Michael Rasmussen with Adam Erne and Sam Gagner, who entered – and exited – the game with a combined 69 points. The Panthers had Lundell, a rookie, with Mason Marchment and Reinhart; they entered with a combined 156 points and exited with 161; Reinhart alone has 76 points, more than the Wings’ entire third line.
Hops to the net
The Wings had a good game going, and then fell behind by two in 90 seconds. Anthony Duclair scored at 5:02 when he finished a pass from Barkov. Reinhart doubled up at 6:32. Petteri Lindbohm got his stick on the puck and fired the puck into Detroit’s zone, where Marchment picked it up along the right boards. Marchment centered a wobbly pass to the slot, where Reinhart knocked it in for his 28th goal. The Panthers scored again at 14:23 on Lundell’s shot from the low slot, and Maxim Mamin added to the damage at 14:51.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.