#LGRW Final: Red Wings slow start results in 4-1 road loss to Panthers

DETROIT --The Detroit Red Wings surrendered three goals in the first 12:25 of the opening period and were unable to claw back into the game, falling to the Florida Panthers, 4-1, on Tuesday at BB&T Center.

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Red Wings (12-21-4) and extended the Panthers' (23-9-4) edge in the eight-game season series to 5-2-0.
Forward Filip Zadina scored the lone goal for the Red Wings on the power play and goaltender Thomas Greiss made 24 of 25 saves after entering the game for Calvin Pickard following Florida's third goal in the first period.
"I felt our energy level, especially early in this game, was not there," said Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin. "They came out hard. It took us time to get into the game and we were down, 3-0, by the time we got into it. Once we did, we were fine. We generated chances, we had looks on the power play. We were right there."

Coach Jeff Blashill said the Red Wings settled into game in the second and third periods and thought the offensive chances between the two teams were even. But Detroit was unable to capitalize and get back into the game after its early deficit, much to the credit of Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 35 of 36 saves.
"It's as bad as we played defensively in a while," Blashill said. "We had plenty of chances to score. But it's not good enough."
Florida winger Jonathan Huberdeau opened the scoring for the Panthers 17 seconds into the first period after corralling a bouncing puck at the top of the crease and sliding it past Pickard. Huberdeau's goal was his eighth point (1-7-8) in seven games against Detroit this year.
Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe made it 2-0 at 11:27 with a wrist shot from the low slot off a perfect saucer pass from Anthony Duclair.
The Panthers extended their lead to 3-0 only 58 seconds later when Brett Connolly was left open in front of the net and tipped in a wrist shot from the point. Pickard was replaced in net by Greiss following Connolly's goal.
Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen had the best chance of the first period for Detroit, firing a wrist shot off the crossbar with six minutes remaining in the frame.
Detroit had two power-play opportunities to open the second period and cashed in on its second man advantage to make it a 3-1 game. The power-play goal snapped a 0-for-26 streak against the Panthers dating back 10 games.
Larkin set up the goal with a cross-ice pass to Zadina, who fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle past Bobrovsky.

But Verhaeghe recorded his second goal of the night less than four minutes later to reopen a three-goal lead. Verhaeghe executed a wrap around and the puck went into the air behind Greiss and deflected off a Red Wings defenseman's stick and into the net.
Detroit outshot Florida, 18-9, in the middle frame, but Bobrovsky kept it a three-goal game with several highlight-reel saves, including a three-save sequence on Red Wings forwards Luke Glendening and Adam Erne with three minutes left in the frame.
"I thought when we made it 3-1, we had chances, we hit posts and we were right there," Larkin said. "We played pretty well. It just took us too long to get into this game tonight."
Neither team lit the lamp in the third period and Florida improved to 12-2-1 in the last 15 meetings with Detroit.
"(Tonight), we weren't at our best," Blashill said. "We had a bunch of guys that played their 'B' and 'C' games. We need everybody on their 'A' game every night."
The Red Wings and Panthers will square off in their final regular-season matchup on Thursday at BB&T Center. Fans can catch all the action on Bally Sports Detroit (formerly FOX Sports Detroit) or 97.1 The Ticket, with puck drop set for 7 p.m.