Panthers give Tom Rowe first win in overtime

DETROIT-- Aleksander Barkov scored with 2:56 left in overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 2-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Thursday.
It is the first NHL win for coach Tom Rowe, who replaced Gerard Gallant on Monday.
"It was big to get him his first win," Florida captain Derek MacKenzie said. "Hopefully we'll get him many more."

Moments after Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo stopped Henrik Zetterberg from the edge of the crease, Florida caught Detroit in a line change. Jonathan Marchessault's long pass sent Barkov in on a breakaway, and he slipped a backhand past goalie Petr Mrazek.
WATCH: All Panthers vs. Red Wings highlights
"I don't even remember my last goal, so it was good to see one go in," Barkov said. "That made the win feel even better."
The goal was Barkov's first since he scored against Mrazek on Oct. 15 (21 games). He has three this season.
"His game has been coming along for a few nights now," Rowe said. "He's a horse, and he scored a great goal in overtime."
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said he was frustrated by rookie defenseman Ryan Sproul, who dumped the puck onto Marchessault's stick before going for a change.
"There are always going to be chances when it is 3-on-3, but that was a play we can't make," Blashill said. "We have cut down our turnovers and mistakes recently, but we went backward in the last two games."
Luongo made 20 saves; Mrazek made 28. The Panthers are 5-0 in overtime; the Red Wings are 1-3.
Detroit took advantage of an Aaron Ekblad turnover to take a 1-0 lead at 1:23 of the first period. Ekblad's between-the-legs pass hit Barkov's skate and bounced to Zetterberg, who beat Luongo with a high backhand.

Vincent Trocheck beat Mrazek with a wrist shot at 14:49 of the first, but Jason Demers was ruled offside after a Red Wings challenge. Demers tied the game 1-1 at 18:15, scoring on a slap shot that deflected off Detroit defenseman Danny DeKeyser.
Red Wings defenseman Mike Green came close to breaking the tie midway through the third period, but his wrist shot hit the crossbar.
MacKenzie was called for goaltender interference with 3:14 left in the third period, but Luongo made a point-blank save on Thomas Vanek's tip. With 49 seconds left in the power play, Sproul was given two minutes for tripping, but Florida did not score.

The Red Wings lost forward Justin Abdelkader to a lower-body injury in the first period. He appeared to injure his right leg in a collision with Trocheck.

Goal of the game

Barkov didn't look like a player in a six-week scoring drought on the game-winning goal. After taking the stretch pass from Marchessault, he calmly waited for Mrazek to make the first move before placing a backhand into the net.

#

Save of the game

Green almost put the Red Wings ahead with four minutes to play in the third period, taking advantage of a gap in the Panthers defense to put a slap shot on net. Luongo slid across to knock it aside with his blocker.

Highlight of the game

Luongo made several saves with the game tied 1-1, but the biggest might have been his overtime save on Zetterberg. Anthony Mantha's pass gave Zetterberg an open side of the net, but Luongo kicked out his left pad.

#

Unsung moment of the game

A defensive mix-up by the Red Wings gave Florida forward Colton Sceviour a second-period breakaway, but Detroit forward Gustav Nyquist recovered in time to prevent Sceviour from getting off a clean shot.

#

They said it

"We did a great job killing penalties, but we made those guys work way too hard, especially after [Justin] went down." --Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg on Detroit killing six Florida power plays
"We weathered the storm in the first period. They came out hard at us, but we were able to get out of the period with a tie." -- Panthers coach Tom Rowe
"We had turnovers all over the ice. The second period wasn't good, and we never really got back to playing the way we want to play." -- Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall

#

Need to know

Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr played his 1,563rd NHL game, moving past former Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Mark Recchi for fourth place. ... Detroit is 3-0-2 in its past five games; Florida is 4-2-1 in its past seven. ... Rowe finished his NHL playing career with the Red Wings in 1983, and was playing for Detroit when Mike Ilitch bought the team in 1982. Rowe lost his first game as coach 2-1 in a shootout to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. ... Blashill said forward Drew Miller, who was a healthy scratch, will likely replace Abdelkader on Saturday at Pittsburgh. "I don't think [Justin will] be out for long, but we'll know more tomorrow," Blashill said.

#

What's next

Panthers: At the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CITY, TVA Sports, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, ROOT, FS-D, NHL.TV)