Detroit Red Wings @ Florida Panthers
Faulk, Brandsegg-Nygård score early in 3rd, lift Red Wings past Panthers 5-3
SUNRISE, Fla. -- — Justin Faulk and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård scored 45 seconds apart early in the third period, goalie Daniil Tarasov defeated his former team and the surging Detroit Red Wings beat the Florida Panthers 5-3 on Monday night.
Faulk had a power-play tally to put Detroit up 3-2 at 2:08 of the third, and Brandsegg-Nygård lifted one over the glove of Florida goalie Jacob Markstrom from deep in the slot to give the Red Wings a two-goal edge.
Carter Mazur got his first NHL goal for Detroit to open the scoring, Alex DeBrincat got his seventh of the season for the Red Wings and Emmitt Finnie sealed it on an empty-netter for three seconds left. Tarasov, who spent last season backing up Sergei Bobrovsky with the Panthers, stopped 23 shots for Detroit.
Aaron Ekblad scored his first goal of the season — and the third short-handed goal of his 13-year career — for Florida, while Sam Reinhart scored his eighth of the year for the Panthers. Markstrom made 24 saves in his first game since Oct. 17.
Florida saw its three-game winning streak snapped. The Panthers never led, with Mazur's goal putting the Wings up 1-0 and DeBrincat making it 2-1 after early in the second after Reinhart tied the game with 5:41 left in the opening period.
Sam Bennett got his fourth of the year for Florida, with Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk assisting in a 6-on-5 opportunity with 3:21 left.
Detroit is now 6-2-1 in its last nine games yet still remains tied for the fewest points in the jampacked Atlantic Division, which had eight teams separated by six points entering Monday. It is, by far, the closest division right now in the NHL; the other three entered Monday's games with an average gap of 15.7 points between first place and last place.
Red Wings: At Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.
Panthers: Hosts Chicago on Wednesday night.
