RECAP: Red Wings 4, Panthers 1

DETROIT – Coming up short in another back-and-forth contest, the Florida Panthers suffered a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday.

Falling to 3-2-0, the Panthers have dropped each of the first two games on their road trip.

“I liked our start tonight better than our last game,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “A little slow sometimes getting the puck off our stick. We had an awful lot blocked in here tonight.”

The first period came and went seemingly the blink of an eye.

With minimal stoppages, it was back-and-forth action with a few quality chances.

Keeping the game tied heading into the first intermission, Sergei Bobrovsky denied Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin with a blocker-save on a 2-on-1 rush late in the period.

“Unbelievable,” forward Luke Kunin said. “It’s fun playing in front of him.”

Just 2:09 into the second period, Mason Appleton one-timed a pass from Larkin into the back of the cage from the right circle to open the scoring and put the Red Wings up 1-0.

On an extended 5-on-3 power play, the Red Wings doubled their lead when Patrick Kane glided into the right circle and beat Bobrovsky with a deceptive shot to make it 2-0 at 9:36.

Perfect up until that point, it was Florida’s first power-play goal allowed this season.

“I think we’ve been really good on the kill,” said forward Eetu Lusotarinen, one of the team’s top killers. “A lot of the same guys [from last year]. It helps. We know the routes and what we’re doing.”

Slicing the deficit in half for Florida, Brad Marchand, who entered tonight’s game with goals in each of his last two contests, beat Cam Talbot on a wrap-around to make it 2-1at 14:05.

“Whatever line he goes on, they get some action,” Maurice said of Marchand, who inked a six-year extension this past offseason. “He’s such a positive guy on the bench even when things aren’t where you want them, and it translates to the way he plays on the ice.”

Appearing in his 300^th NHL game, Anton Lundell tallied his 100^th career assist on the goal.

With the Panthers still trailing just past the midway point of the third period, Bobrovsky kept the deficit manageable when he denied Emmitt Finnie on a point-blank shot from the slot.

Despite generating some looks, the Panthers couldn’t find the tying goal they needed.

After pulling Bobrovsky for a 6-on-5 advantage, Appleton notched his second goal of the game when he fired the puck into the empty cage to put the Red Wings up 3-1 at 18:02.

With 18 seconds left, Michael Rasmussen added another empty-netter to make it 4-1.

In defeat, the Panthers had 22 of their shots blocked.

“I think it was the second period,” Luostarinen said of the turning point. “We were a little slow and soft in the second period. They got a couple goals, and that’s about it.”

THEY SAID IT

“We didn’t get the zone time. I think we’ll probably be over five minutes, which is good for us, but I don’t think we did enough with it.” – Paul Maurice on tonight’s loss

“He’s an awesome asset for us. That’s a great thing. The way he works every day, it’s been good.” – Eetu Luostarinen on Brad Marchand’s three-game goal streak

CATS STATS

- The Panthers led 32-14 in hits.

- Eetu Luostarinen logged a team-high five hits.

- Seth Jones saw a team-high 25:31 of ice time.

- Florida led 2.35-2.23 in expected goals at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

No rest for the champs.

Closing the book on their first back-to-back of the season, the Panthers will battle the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

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