DETROIT - Nick Bjugstad scored in a shootout and Tim Thomas denied Detroit three times, lifting the Florida Panthers to a 5-4 win over the Red Wings on Sunday night after trailing by two goals twice in regulation.
The Red Wings blew a chance to win a season-high third straight game at home, allowing Brad Boyes to score a game-tying, short-handed goal with 3:46 left in the third period a couple minutes after teammate Drew Shore scored.
Detroit's Gustav Nyquist and Daniel Alfredsson scored 1:19 apart midway through the second and Riley Sheahan had a goal late in the second period to give the Red Wings a 3-1 lead.
Jonas Gustavsson, filling in for the injured Jimmy Howard, had 33 saves in his third straight start for the Red Wings.
Thomas stopped 26 shots.
Sean Bergenheim put the Panthers ahead just 1:48 into the game. After the Red Wings surged ahead 3-1 in the second, Jesse Winchester pulled the Panthers within a goal midway through the third.
Detroit's Tomas Tatar restored the two-goal lead a few minutes later by shooting high when Thomas went low. Shore scored to make it 4-3 with 5:32 left in the game.
The Red Wings improved to 2-2 when both Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are out of the lineup.
Zetterberg was out with an upper-body injury after being hurt in Friday night's game against Montreal. Datsyuk missed a 10th straight game with a lower-body injury. Both stars are day to day.
The Red Wings did get forward Johan Franzen back in the lineup after he missed 16 games with a concussion.
Howard has been out with an injured left knee and he might play Tuesday night at Philadelphia. Forward Joakim Andersson missed his sixth straight game with a lower-body injury, and is expected to return against the Flyers or Friday night against Washington.
NOTES: To make room for Franzen on the roster, Detroit sent RW Mikael Samuelsson to play for Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL. Samuelsson has only one goal and just two assists in 26 games. ... Florida rookie Aleksander Barkov didn't play because of a lower-body injury from Tuesday's game at Buffalo.
___
Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage