Duclair injured, Panthers top Red Wings for third straight win

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals when the Florida Panthers defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 at BB&T Center on Tuesday.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored 17 seconds into the game, and Brett Connolly scored his 100th NHL goal for the Panthers (23-9-4), who have won three in a row following a three-game losing streak. Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves.
Verhaeghe has scored five goals in his past three games. He scored a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
"There's a lot of games, so you get a lot of puck touches and everything, so you're kind of feeling confident with the puck," Verhaeghe said. "But, yeah, the team has been doing well. We're on a three-game win streak here, which is nice after a three-game losing streak, and it shows the resilience of the team for sure."
Filip Zadina scored for the Red Wings (12-21-4), who failed trying for their first three-game winning streak of the season. Calvin Pickard allowed three goals on eight shots in the first period before being replaced by Thomas Greiss, who made 24 saves.
"It's as bad as we've played defensively in a while," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "We weren't at our best. We had a bunch of guys that played their B and C games."
This first game of a two-game set here was Florida's first without defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who will be out 12 weeks after having surgery Monday after breaking his left leg in a 4-1 win against Dallas the previous night.
The Panthers also were without forwards Aleksander Barkov and Patric Hornqvist, then lost forward Anthony Duclair to an apparent shoulder injury in the final seconds of the second period. Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said after the game that Duclair would be out 7-10 days.
"We [were] short, we missed a few guys, a few key guys, but I think it's also opened up the opportunity for other guys to play bigger roles, play bigger minutes and earn their spot in the lineup," Bobrovsky said. "It's good, and it's also some adversity for us to overcome to get together and be strong."

Huberdeau gave Florida a 1-0 lead off a face-off in the Detroit zone when Mason Marchment poked the puck to the front of the net.
Verhaeghe made it 2-0 at 11:27 with a quick shot from the slot, and Connolly made it 3-0 at 12:25 when he tipped Gustav Forsling's shot from the point. It was the first goal since Feb. 11 for Connolly, who has played four of the past 12 games.
"It's good to see one go in the net," Connolly said. "I had some chances the last couple of games, but the team is playing well. It's good to see the guys step up with losing a key player and guys filling in and playing a really good hockey game tonight. It's good to see the guys step up and it's good to chip in for another win. The team's playing great."
Pickard gave up two goals in two games this weekend when the Red Wings swept a two-game set against the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-1 and 4-1.
"You have to get settled and it went bam, bam, bam," Blashill said. "He never had a chance to get settled."

Zadina made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 7:29 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle. Verhaeghe made it 4-1 at 12:12.
Verhaeghe scored when the puck went up in the air after a wraparound attempt, and defenseman Filip Hronek batted it into the net while trying to send it the other way.
"Our energy level early was not there," Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. "They came out hard. By the time we got into it, we were fine."
NOTES: Florida is 12-2-1 in its past 15 games against Detroit. … Defenseman Gustav Forsling, claimed off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 9, played a Panthers-high 21:27. He had an assist on Connolly's goal, two shots on goal and one hit.