Red Wings Beat Panthers 5-3 in Sunrise as Faulk and Brandsegg-Nygard Score 45 Seconds Apart, Snapping Florida's Three-Game Win Streak

The Florida Panthers' three-game winning streak ended Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, where Justin Faulk and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard scored 45 seconds apart early in the third period and the Detroit Red Wings beat Florida 5-3 in front of 18,862 fans. Former Panthers goalie Daniil Tarasov stopped 23 shots against his old team, and Florida, which never led, dropped to 8-5-2 in a tightly bunched Atlantic Division.

Faulk's power-play slap shot at 2:08 of the third broke a 2-2 tie, and Brandsegg-Nygard lifted a wrist shot over the glove of Jacob Markstrom from deep in the slot at 2:53 to make it 4-2, according to the Associated Press account and the ESPN box score. Sam Bennett pulled Florida within a goal with 3:21 left during a 6-on-5 push, but Emmitt Finnie hit the empty net with three seconds remaining.

How the game unfolded

Detroit struck first when Carter Mazur scored his first NHL goal at 5:26 of the opening period, a wrist shot set up by Moritz Seider. Sam Reinhart answered for Florida at 14:19, with 5:41 left in the first, for his team-leading eighth goal of the season, with assists from Carter Verhaeghe and Sandis Vilmanis.

The Red Wings regained the lead just 1:26 into the second period when Alex DeBrincat scored his seventh of the season off feeds from Viktor Arvidsson and Faulk. Florida tied it again at 15:25 of the middle period on an unusual goal: Aaron Ekblad scored short-handed on a backhand, assisted by Garnet Hathaway and Lars Eller. It was Ekblad's first goal of the season and, according to the AP, the third short-handed goal of his 13-year career.

The third period turned in less than a minute. After Faulk's power-play goal, assisted by Andrew Copp and Brandsegg-Nygard, Copp and Lucas Raymond set up Brandsegg-Nygard for the goal that gave Detroit its first two-goal cushion. Bennett's tip-in at 16:40, with Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk earning the assists, made for a tense finish before Finnie sealed it at 19:57.

The scoring sequence, from the ESPN play-by-play:

Tarasov beats his former team

Tarasov, who spent last season backing up Sergei Bobrovsky in Florida, made 23 saves on 26 shots for an .885 save percentage. At the other end, Markstrom stopped 24 of 28 shots in his first start since Oct. 17, when the Panthers routed Seattle 8-3 at home. He was pulled for an extra attacker late in the third period, and Finnie's empty-net goal accounted for the final margin.

The box score shows Florida had its chances to tilt the game. The Panthers outhit Detroit 41-19, won 54 percent of the faceoffs and got 12-for-16 work in the circle from Anton Lundell. But Detroit blocked 17 shots to Florida's eight, and the Panthers went 0-for-2 on the power play while the Red Wings converted one of their three chances, the one that decided the night.

Brady Tkachuk led Florida with seven hits and four missed shots, while Seth Jones logged a team-high 27:23 of ice time. Reinhart's goal was his eighth of the season, matching Verhaeghe and Brady Tkachuk for the most among the Panthers who dressed Monday, according to the box score's season totals.

A streak snapped after a strong week

The loss ended a run in which Florida had won three straight, beginning with a 3-2 win at Chicago on Oct. 25, when Eller scored his first goal as a Panther. The Panthers then swept a home-and-home with Winnipeg, winning 5-1 at Canada Life Centre on Oct. 27 behind two goals from Verhaeghe and 5-2 in Sunrise on Oct. 30.

That Friday win over the Jets was one of Florida's best performances of the season. Lundell scored a hat trick, the Panthers' fifth of the season according to the AP, and Jones finished October with 18 points on two goals and 16 assists. That broke the record for most points by a Florida defenseman in a single month, previously held by Keith Yandle, who had 17 in March 2018. Akira Schmid made 22 saves in that game.

The schedule has also been unusual. According to the AP, the Panthers entered the Oct. 30 game having played only three home games, the fewest in the NHL, while more than half the league had played at least seven at home. Monday's game was the start of a stretch that brings Chicago and, later, Detroit again to Sunrise.

Still without Barkov and Marchand

Florida continues to play without captain Aleksander Barkov and forward Brad Marchand, both listed on injured reserve on the ESPN injury report along with Jonah Gadjovich. After the Jets game, coach Paul Maurice said both players had resumed skating, with Marchand possibly about three weeks from returning and Barkov about four, according to the AP.

Detroit was missing several regulars of its own, including captain Dylan Larkin, who is on injured reserve along with Mason Appleton, Marco Kasper and Simon Edvinsson, according to ESPN. The Red Wings still improved to 6-2-1 in their last nine games.

The Atlantic Division logjam

The loss matters because there is almost no room in the Atlantic. The AP noted that the division had all eight teams separated by six points entering Monday, by far the closest grouping in the NHL; the other three divisions entered the night with an average gap of 15.7 points between first and last place. Detroit's win kept it tied for the fewest points in the division, but the Red Wings are now one point behind Florida.

The Atlantic standings as listed by ESPN after Monday's game:

For South Florida fans, the cross-state picture is the most immediate concern. The Tampa Bay Lightning sit level with the Panthers at 18 points and host the Red Wings on Tuesday night, which means Detroit's next stop could tighten the race further on Florida's side of the state.

What's next

The Panthers return to the ice Wednesday night, Nov. 4, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks at Amerant Bank Arena, a team they beat 3-2 in Chicago on Oct. 25. Florida then heads out for a weekend back-to-back, at Washington on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 7, and at Boston on Sunday, Nov. 8, against the division-leading Bruins.

Detroit and Florida meet again soon. The Red Wings return to Sunrise on Thursday, Nov. 12, giving the Panthers a quick chance at a rematch in what is shaping up as a season-long scramble for position in the Atlantic Division.