Mason Appleton scored twice and goaltender Cam Talbot stopped 21 shots as the Detroit Red Wings beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 4-1 on Wednesday night, handing Florida its second straight loss.
The Red Wings, now winners of three straight, have found their rhythm after dropping their season opener to Montreal. Detroit followed that loss with a home-and-home sweep of Toronto and continued its surge in South Florida.
Appleton opened the scoring at 2:09 of the second period, snapping a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky to give Detroit a 1-0 lead. Just over seven minutes later, Patrick Kane doubled the advantage on the power play, ripping a shot from the right side into the near top corner at 9:36.
Florida finally broke through late in the second period when Brad Marchand scored on a wraparound with 5:55 remaining, cutting the deficit to 2-1. But Talbot stood tall from there, turning aside every other Panthers attempt as Detroit controlled the pace in the third.
Appleton sealed the win with his second goal of the night, hitting the empty net with 1:58 to go. Michael Rasmussen added another empty-netter moments later to cap the 4-1 final.
Bobrovsky finished with 21 saves for Florida, which began the season with three home victories over Chicago, Philadelphia, and Ottawa but has now dropped consecutive games after a 2-1 loss in Philadelphia on Monday.
The Panthers’ early-season struggles have been compounded by injuries to key players. Before the game, head coach Paul Maurice announced that veteran defenseman Dmitry Kulikov underwent surgery for an upper-body injury and is expected to miss about five months. Florida is also without star forwards Aleksander Barkov, sidelined at least seven months with a knee injury, and Matthew Tkachuk, who could return in December from a torn adductor muscle.
Kulikov was injured on Oct. 9 in a home victory over Philadelphia. Uvis Balinskis filled his spot in the lineup Wednesday, while defenseman Tobias Bjornfot was recalled from AHL Charlotte earlier in the week.
With the victory, Detroit improved to 3-1-0, while Florida fell to 3-2-0. Panthers: At New Jersey on Thursday night. Red Wings: Host Tampa Bay on Friday night.
