Jared Coreau gets first NHL win for Red Wings

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jared Coreau made 31 saves for his first NHL win when the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Florida Panthers 4-3 in a shootout at BB&T Center on Friday.
Coreau was making his second NHL start. The 25-year-old was recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Wednesday to replace Jimmy Howard, who will miss 4-6 weeks with a sprained knee.
"I can't describe it except it's a little bit of a relief," Coreau said. "It's Christmastime, so it's a Christmas gift to myself."

WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Panthers highlights
Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek scored in the shootout for the Red Wings, and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers before Coreau secured the victory when he stopped Nick Bjugstad to end the third round.
Nielsen's goal was reviewed to determine whether his stick made contact with the puck after it hit goalie Roberto Luongo's pad, but the review was inconclusive. Vincent Trocheck appeared to score in the first round, but the goal was overturned after a review showed the puck never crossed the goal line between hitting each post.
Anthony Mantha, Drew Miller and Nielsen scored for the Red Wings (15-15-4), who won for the second time in seven games (2-4-1).
Detroit, which trailed 3-1 to start the third period, was 0-10-0 when trailing after two.

"I wish we would have rallied earlier in the season, but I think our guys have lots of character and I thought we did a good job hanging with it," Blashill said. "I thought we were playing good hockey. We got down, but I thought we were playing good hockey and we decided to keep with it and keep with it and keep with it. We kept grinding and found a way to win."
Luongo made 36 saves for Florida but did not break a tie for fifth place in NHL victories. He remained tied with Terry Sawchuk at 447 wins.
Reilly Smith, Jason Demers and Derek MacKenzie scored for the Panthers (15-14-6), who lost 3-1 to the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

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Goal of the game

MacKenzie made it 3-1 at 10:27 of the second period after Matheson took a pass at the blue line, skated along the left boards and made a cross-ice pass for the one-timer.

Save of the game

Vanek took advantage of a bad Panthers line change to skate in alone on Luongo early in the third period. Luongo stopped Vanek's high slap shot from the high slot.

Highlight of the game

Mantha took advantage of a Florida turnover to score 12 seconds into the second period, but it was his nifty reverse spin move with the puck that got him in position to beat Luongo with a low shot from the slot.

Unsung performance of the game

Jaromir Jagr showed he still possesses impressive stickhandling skills when he deked past Dylan Larkin high in the Detroit zone to skate in alone on Coreau.

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They said it

"We'll enjoy our Christmas a little more with two points. There's no question about that. But I also think we just [have to] continue to grind and grind and grind and find points. We were able to grind and we were able to find two points and it's a real positive." --Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

"It was a good win. You usually get a little down on yourself, especially with the record we have, when you're down 3-1, but we stuck with it. It was a big win. I think it says a lot about this team." -- Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen
"It's just a matter of sticking to our game. It's a confidence thing right now for us. I know we haven't been doing as well as we thought we would be doing. In the back of our minds, I think we're a little bit hesitant to kind of continue playing our game. Once we get a lead, we're a little bit back on our heels instead of continuing to push on them. I think it's one thing we just need to fix over the (Christmas) break." -- Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck

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Need to know

Detroit avoided being swept in the four-game season series. … Jagr, who moved into second place on the NHL points list Thursday, had an assist to move one behind Paul Coffey for fifth in that category (1,134). … Smith left the game 2:51 into in the second period because of an apparent head injury, the result of an apparent helmet-to-helmet collision with Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall near the Florida blue line as he received a pass. Rowe said Smith sustained a concussion and was likely to miss 7-10 days.

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What's next

Red Wings: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FSN-D, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Panthers: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, FS-F, NHL.TV)