Tkachuk has goal, assist in Panthers win against Red Wings

Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist for the Florida Panthers in a 5-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Thursday.

Tkachuk has three goals and five assists during a four-game point streak. He leads Florida this season with 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) in 25 games.
"I thought this was such a complete effort," Tkachuk said. "The guys really stepped up."

Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for the Panthers (13-10-4), who scored four goals in the second period in their first home game since Nov. 26. They went 2-2-1 on a five-game road trip.
"We've played three of the last four games in almost an identical manner," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "We were stingy on defense, and we've gotten some quick counter-attack chances. I thought we really built something good on the road trip, even with a tough game in Winnipeg (5-2 loss on Tuesday)."
Jonatan Berggren
scored, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 36 saves for the Red Wings (13-8-5), who had won the first two of their four-game road trip that concludes Saturday at the Dallas Stars.
"We didn't give ourselves much of a chance," Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. "We actually had a pretty good first period, but then we gave up the late goal on the breakaway and things really fell apart in the second period."
Chris Tierney took advantage of a Red Wings line change to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 18:05 of the first period, scoring in his second NHL game this season. He was recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Sunday.
"I feel good," he said. "I've been playing a lot in the AHL, so I've got some confidence built up, but it was nice to contribute on the score sheet."

Eetu Luostarinen tipped Aleksander Barkov's shot past Nedeljkovic at 1:47 of the second period to make it 2-0, and Josh Mahura knocked in a rebound 58 seconds later at 2:45 to give Florida a 3-0 lead.
Berggren cut it to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 8:08.
"It wasn't a bad start, but we just didn't have any grit in the offensive zone," Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. "We couldn't sustain any pressure and we weren't winning battles to keep the puck alive."
Matt Kiersted pounced on a rebound to make it 4-1 at 14:52, and Tkachuk scored just 45 seconds later at 15:37 for the 5-1 final.
''It was so nice to be able to come back home and play that way in front of our fans,'' Tkachuk said. ''It was such a complete effort as guys really stepped up. I'm not going to lie; it is not easy going from the road to coming back for this one. It was very important for us to take care of this home ice.''
Barkov, the Panthers captain, returned after missing six games with an illness. He had one assist and won 11 of 19 face-offs (58 percent) in 17:12 of ice time.
"I felt great," Barkov said. "It took some time to get my legs back, but these guys make it easy to play with them. We like where we are right now, and this was a nice win."
NOTES: Alex Lyon served as Bobrovsky's backup with Spencer Knight unavailable with a non-COVID illness. Panthers center Anton Lundell missed the game for the same reason. … Berggren has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his first 13 NHL games.