Reimer perfect in relief in Panthers win against Red Wings

DETROIT -- James Reimer made the save on all 12 shots in relief, and two more in the shootout, and the Florida Panthers rallied to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 at Little Caesars Arena on Monday.

Florida trailed 3-0 after the first period but scored three times in the second to tie the game.
"They had some breaks in the first period that ended up in our net so we told them to go out and win the second period," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "We just needed to start chipping away at the lead and get some momentum."
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Red Wings highlights]
Reimer replaced Roberto Luongo after the first period and didn't allow a goal in regulation, overtime or the shootout.

"Obviously that was a bad first period and [Luongo] got hung out to dry," Reimer said. "We really pushed back in the second period, and the guys were huge in front of me. They were blocking shots, deflecting passes and clearing the puck."
Jared McCann, Henrik Borgstrom and Jayce Hawryluk scored for the Panthers (17-15-6), who won for the sixth time in eight games. Jonathan Huberdeau scored the only goal in the shootout.

"We showed some great resiliency tonight, which we've done a lot lately," Boughner said. "We needed everyone to step up, and that's what we got."
Andreas Athanasiou, Gustav Nyquist and Thomas Vanek scored for the Red Wings (15-19-7), who have lost five straight (0-3-2) and nine of 10 (1-6-3). Jimmy Howard made 24 saves.

"I thought we were committed to play the way we need to play in the first period," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "We stopped doing that in the second period. We were better in the third but didn't score."
Athanasiou gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 5:15 of the first, taking a pass from Luke Witkowski and scoring his 13th goal on a breakaway.
Nyquist made it 2-0 at 17:28, taking a pass from Dylan Larkin before skating past Aaron Ekblad and scoring on a backhand. Larkin has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in a NHL career-best 14-game point streak.
Vanek scored his sixth goal at 18:27 to increase the lead to 3-0.
Luongo allowed three goals on eight shots.
Florida outshot Detroit 14-2 in a three-goal second period.

"After the first period we talked about the fact that we needed to keep going and finish the game off," Nyquist said. "We didn't do that. We gave Reimer a pretty easy night."
McCann scored a shorthanded goal at 6:19 to make it 3-1. Juho Lammikko's shot hit Howard in the left collarbone, and as he slumped to the ice McCann put the rebound into the empty net. Howard stayed in the game after receiving treatment.
"I thought that was a huge moment in the game," Borgstrom said. "They were looking to go up 4-0 and [McCann] gets us a goal on the penalty kill. Suddenly it was 3-1 and we had all the momentum."
The Panthers made it 3-2 at 12:11 on Borgstrom's third goal. Howard made the initial save but kicked the loose puck into his own net.
Florida tied the game at 3-3 when Hawryluk knocked in Colton Sceviour's pass at 15:15.
"We got goals from two rookies and McCann's only 22," Boughner said. "Our young guys have been a big part of these wins and they were again tonight."
Athanasiou appeared to give the Red Wings the lead at 3:51 of the third but his power-play goal was overturned after a review for offside.
"That's never a good feeling but there's nothing you can do about it," Athanasiou said. "That's part of the game. We can't let that stop from us playing."

They said it

"The Red Wings have a lot of great scorers when you get to a shootout. I know because I've faced them all before. You just have to try to keep your eye on the puck and try not to fall for all of their tricks." -- Panthers goalie James Reimer
"We stopped skating, we stopped talking to each other and stopped wanting it. I've seen it a few other times this year, where one guy has the puck and the other four are standing around and waiting for him to do everything." -- Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall

Need to know

Florida's top line of Huberdeau, Evgenii Dadonov and Aleksander Barkov combined for two shots on goal. … Panthers forward Troy Brouwer played his 800th NHL game. … Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley, who was honored before the game for playing in his 1,000th NHL game Dec. 23, broke his foot in warmups and is expected to miss 3-to-5 weeks. … Larkin's point streak is the longest for the Red Wings since Henrik Zetterberg had a 17-game streak from Oct. 3-Nov. 11, 2007. Steve Yzerman holds the Red Wings record with a 28-game point streak from Nov. 1, 1988 to Jan. 4, 1989. … Nyquist has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in his past 14 games.

What's next

Panthers: At the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: Host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-D, SNW, NHL.TV)