RECAP: Late push not enough as Red Wings fall to Panthers, 3-2

DETROIT -- In a game in which both Detroit and Florida had plenty of chances, the Red Wings' late push wasn't enough in a 3-2 loss to the Panthers on Friday night at Little Caesars Arena.

Jonatan Berggren opened the scoring 1:04 into the first period with his sixth goal of the season, marking Detroit's fastest tally to start a game in 2022-23. After the Panthers tied the game less than two minutes later, Florida netted a power-play goal in both the second and third periods to take a 3-1 lead.
Robby Fabbri brought the Red Wings within one with his first goal of the season at 16:17 of the third. Detroit fired off several shots after pulling goalie Ville Husso in the final minutes of the game, but couldn't net the equalizer before the final horn sounded.
"I think we played 5-on-5 pretty well again," Andrew Copp said. "We gotta figure out a way to capitalize and make that lead 2-0, 3-1 or something like that to make this feel good. We gotta figure out a way to stop letting up goals on the (penalty) kill. It just kills the momentum of the game."
Husso made 17 saves for Detroit, which dropped to 16-14-7 overall. Florida won its second straight game, improving to 18-18-4 (40 points) on the season.
"If we get any execution on special teams, I wouldn't say it is an easy win, but it is a winnable game," head coach Derek Lalonde said. "We've been very good at even-strength in the last two games, but we haven't gotten anything out of it."
Panthers defenseman Marc Staal and forward Givani Smith were honored with a special tribute graphic in the first period. Staal spent the past two seasons with the Red Wings, while Smith appeared in 85 games with Detroit from 2019-22 after being selected 46th overall by the club in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
NEXT UP:The Red Wings will play the second half of a back-to-back on Saturday night, dropping the puck at 7 p.m. against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.

SCORING SUMMARY

Detroit 1, Florida 0 (1:04, 1st period)
Filip Hronek's pass found Ben Chiarot at Florida's blue line, then Chiarot's shot was tipped by Berggren past Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida 1, Detroit 1 (2:33, 1st period)
Just 1:29 after Berggren's goal, Gustav Forsling took a behind-the-goal feed from Eric Staal and found twine on a shot through traffic.
Florida 2, Detroit 1 (6:27, 2nd period)
Aleksander Barkov set up Aaron Ekblad in the slot, who beat Husso on the man advantage for the eventual game-winning goal.
Florida 3, Detroit 1 (8:11, 3rd period)
Ekblad converted Barkov's rebound from the right faceoff circle for his second power-play goal of the game.
Detroit 2, Florida 3 (16:17, 3rd period)
Fabbri, playing in his second game since returning from his third career ACL tear, scored off a shot from the right faceoff circle. Copp and Hronek were each credited with an assist on Fabbri's tally, his first in a Detroit uniform since scoring in three straight games from March 4-8, 2022.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on Bobrovsky
"He was the First Star, Second Star and Third Star. He made some unbelievable saves on the breakaways and the shots from the edge of the crease."
Chiarot on his assessment of Detroit's penalty kill unit
"Five-on-five, we're a pretty good team right now. I'd say we carried the play for the most part 5-on-5. Then we give one up on the penalty kill and we're kind of on our heels most of the game after that. That's kind of killing us right now."