Panthers extend point streak, defeat Red Wings in OT

DETROIT -- Aleksi Heponiemi scored at 2:45 of overtime in his NHL debut to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

Anthony Duclair got to a loose puck after Thomas Greiss made the save against him on a breakaway. Duclair drove to the net on the right side and passed across the top of the crease to Heponiemi for his first NHL goal on his first shot.
"It's just an amazing feeling," Heponiemi said. "After the first couple nervous shifts, I was just enjoying the ice time, but [Panthers coach Joel Quenneville] putting me out there for an important moment means a lot."
Heponiemi is the fourth player in NHL history to score in overtime in his debut, and the second this season after Kirill Kaprizov for the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 14.
"He's got great instincts," Quenneville said of Heponiemi, who played 9:30. "It was a great play by [Duclair] to get it across to him, but he has great hands, and that was a great finish."
Aleksander Barkov and Keith Yandle scored for Florida (4-0-1), which played overtime for the fourth straight game and was coming off a 3-2 shootout loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves.

"It is huge to get points in a shortened season," Yandle said. 'You have to find ways to win games, whether it is in regulation or overtime. Those points could be very important at the end of the season."
Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Detroit (2-5-2), which is 0-3-2 in its past five games. Greiss made 23 saves.
"I thought we were better tonight 5-on-5," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "They had some moments and the chances were probably about even, but we were way better tonight. We lost the game on special teams."
Detroit went 0-for-4 on the power play and didn't use Mantha and Dylan Larkin on early opportunities.

"[Blashill] has told us since the first day of (training) camp that power-play time is a privilege, and that's exactly how it should be," Larkin said. "We haven't been good enough, so we were watching from the bench. It was definitely a good lesson for me."
Barkov gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 3:06 of the first period, scoring a power-play goal when his pass went in off defenseman Danny DeKeyser.
Mantha tied it 1-1 at 15:02 when he scored on a delayed penalty.
Bertuzzi gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at 16:59, scoring his Detroit-leading fifth goal on the rebound of Larkin's shot.
Yandle scored Florida's second power-play goal of the game with 0.6 seconds left in the first period to tie it 2-2.
"I looked up and saw five or six seconds left, and then I looked up after the goal, and it said zero," Yandle said. "I thought we had missed our chance, so it was big to find out it counted."

Bertuzzi did not play in the third period because of an upper-body injury.
"All I know is that he couldn't finish the game," Blashill said. "That obviously makes him questionable for tomorrow."
The Panthers and Red Wings are scheduled to play here again Sunday.
NOTES: Heponiemi is the first Panthers player to score in his NHL debut since Jacob MacDonald did it in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 6, 2018. Like Heponiemi, MacDonald scored on his first shot on goal in the NHL. … The others to score in overtime in an NHL debut are Tim Sweeney (Oct. 4, 1990, for Calgary Flames) and Nick Knott (Nov. 2, 1941, for Brooklyn Americans). … The Red Wings have lost seven straight games to the Panthers (0-5-2).