SUNRISE, FLA. – That’s how you turn a negative into a positive.
In a game in which nothing seemed to go their way – and the second straight game in which the whistles did the same – the Florida Panthers channeled their collective frustration into a gritty 3-2 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.
“I think we needed it,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. “I think we’ve needed the frustration we’ve been seeing, the frustration and adversity. I think we’ve created our own problems to start. We had a whole bunch of problems, just some strange things happened -- some health, we had a bunch of guys get sick we didn’t say much about. Then we had the disparity in the penalty kill and power play adversity. That’ll frustrate you, too. But I think we got better through it tonight. That’s a players’ win for me because the coach didn’t have much to say today. I like the way they ran the bench. I like the way they came together.”
Improving to 47-22-5, the Panthers have once again overtaken the Boston Bruins (42-17-15) to claim the top spot in the Atlantic Division with just eight games left in the regular season.
Getting back on track against Detroit, the division remains up for grabs.
“It’s been easier to get frustrated,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said of the team’s recent dip in play. “But for us to channel that today and get back in the win column is important.”
Briefly losing a key player less than a minute after puck drop, the Red Wings had a scare when captain Dylan Larkin was hit by a shot in the back of the left leg. Unable to put any weight on the injured leg, he had to be helped to the locker room after the incident.
Despite how bad it looked in that moment, he did eventually return to the game.
On the power play, the Red Wings opened the scoring when Robby Fabbri took a cross-ice pass from David Perron and beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a laser of a wrist shot from the center of the right circle to make it 1-0 at 10:31 of the first period.
Just before the 13-mintue mark of the second period, Bobrovsky helped keep the deficit to just one goal when he denied Alex DeBrincat on a breakaway.
Later in the period, Perron drew the ire of Sam Bennett when he took a cheap shot on Niko Mikkola. After seeing the incident unfold, Bennett tackled Perron to the ice. Perron, who likely should’ve received a much harsher punishment, got a two-minute penalty, as did Bennett.
In the zone, Alex Lyon, trying to replicate the late-season heroics he had with the Panthers last year, kept the Red Wings on top heading into the second intermission when he went right to left to rob Reinhart on a perfect shorthanded shot from on the doorstep in the waning seconds of the period.
“Lyon is a good goalie,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “We know that from last year."
With frustration over calls starting to take hold, the Panthers finally managed to turn the tide following a strong penalty kill in the third period.
Flying out of the box, Aaron Ekblad carried the puck straight down the slot and battled his way through bodies before the rubber eventually ended up on the stick of a trailing Barkov, who finished off the impressive display of determination by burying a shot to make it 1-1 at 12:21.
