RECAP: Red Wings shut out by NHL-leading Panthers, 4-0

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings were shut out by the NHL-leading Florida Panthers at Little Caesars Arena for the second time this season, dropping a 4-0 decision on Saturday night.

Goalie Alex Lyon stopped 33-of-37 shots in his 29th start of the season for Detroit (33-22-6; 72 points), which lost its second consecutive game. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves for Florida (41-16-4; 86 points), earning his fourth shutout of the campaign and helping the Panthers win their fourth straight contest.

“That’s a really good team,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said about the Panthers. “Margin of error is very thin. They don’t give up much and we didn’t get a lot of 5-on-5 (offense). We need to be really precise on special teams, and we were not. Credit to Bob (Bobrovsky), we had some looks with the right guys too, he made the right saves at the right time, and we were on the bad side of it tonight.”

The Red Wings and Panthers played a scoreless first period that ultimately set a physical tone for the rest of the game.

After Florida killed two penalties early in the second period, Brandon Montour opened the scoring at the 8:50 mark when he cleaned up the rebound of Evan Rodrigues’ initial shot.

The Panthers scored on the power play just 4:16 later as Sam Reinhart lit the lamp for his 42nd goal of the season, which ranks second in the NHL, to make it 2-0.

“We have two power-play looks and we don’t score,” Lalonde said. “They score on the next shift, so there’s momentum there. Then obviously they score on their power play, so we find ourselves down 2-0 after two (periods).”

Patrick Kane was stopped by Bobrovsky on a breakaway with 3:49 remaining in the second period. The veteran forward was held off the scoresheet on Saturday, snapping his 10-game point streak.

"There were chances all over the ice, especially early," Andrew Copp said. "Mo (Moritz Seider) hit a crossbar I think first shift. Getting the first goal in these types of games is really important because then you can kind of dictate the play. Obviously didn't get the first, but as soon as that second one went in I felt they were starting to feel it and we maybe lost our emotions."

Extending the Panthers’ lead to 3-0 at 4:39 of the third period, Rodrigues one-timed a shot from the right face-off circle past Lyon. Carter Verhaeghe tacked on another power play goal with 6:58 remaining, wiring a shot through traffic for the 4-0 final.

The Red Wings recorded a season-high 40 penalty minutes in the loss, marking their most in a single game since Nov. 15, 2017 (64 penalty minutes vs. Calgary Flames).

“You want to be able to compete and play with an edge, but you have to handle your emotions,” Lalonde said. “I thought for the most part tonight, pretty good. A little of our post-play scrums were a bit of frustration on our part in the third (period) and the refs just managing it.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will kick off a four-game road trip on Wednesday night, first visiting the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on handing the emotional swings of winning and losing streaks

“It’s one thing to keep eating points when you’re rolling. We did that through six games and obviously, feels like a really missed opportunity now with the Islanders game on Thursday. But the biggest thing of staying in these battles is stopping these momentum slides.”

Copp on what makes the Panthers a challenging opponent

“Their forecheck is very good. Their power play is very good. I think we lost our heads a little bit during some of those scrums. You saw us get the extra pretty much every time, can’t do that against a team that’s going to play outside the whistles a little bit and try to bait you into those types of things. We got to be prepared for that.”

Moritz Seider on Florida’s penalty kill

“They just have every aspect covered. They have a good amount of low plays and good shooting side. They move the puck well up top with a really shifty top guy who isn’t afraid of sifting pucks in there, so you always got to be prepared. For the most part, we did a good job. But obviously, that’s creeping into our game a little bit. I think we don’t really care who’s coming in our building. I think we’ve shown that we have a really good penalty kill, but we just have to come back to our strength.”