Detroit Red Wings collect 1st win, defeat Florida Panthers in OT, 4-3
Helene St. James
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Detroit Red Wings needed overtime to do it, but they finally won their first game of the season.
Gustav Nyquist scored to give the Wings a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers Saturday at BB&T Center. The Wings scored two power-play goals in 18 seconds, but made the game unnecessarily hard on themselves by skating ruts to the penalty box, and Mike Hoffman tied the game with 1:16 to go in regulation after the Panthers pulled their goaltender.
The Wings (1-5-2) were the last remaining winless team in the NHL.
Second-period surge
The Wings entered the second period down 2-0. Keith Yandle scored on a wrist shot at 7:34 of the first period after getting a pass from Evgenii Dadonov, who put Joe Hicketts and Dennis Cholowski on their heels entering Detroit’s zone, as Yandle got in behind them. Nick Bjugstad made it 2-0 at 16:10 off a faceoff. Both were goals Jimmy Howard should have stopped.
The key to getting back in the game was having their power play click. The Wings went on a two-man advantage at 5:40 when Andreas Athanasiou drew a penalty four seconds after Anthony Mantha. It took seven seconds to score — Dennis Cholowski had the puck in the high slot and fired a shot as Michael Rasmussen played net-front. Thomas Vanek converted a pass from Frans Nielsen at 6:05.
The Wings turned the momentum into a 3-2 lead when Dylan Larkin scored at 7:50. Larkin had another scoring opportunity late in the second period after Cholowski stole the puck during a penalty kill. The Wings killed three straight penalties, and during one of them, they spent more time in Florida’s zone than their own.
Making it difficult
The Wings were faced with a penalty shot for the second time this week when Cholowski was called for hooking Aleksander Barkov on a breakaway early in the third period. Barkov whiffed on his forehand and then tried a backhand shot. The Wings then took another penalty (Luke Glendening for tripping). The Panthers power play isn’t good (25th in the NHL at 13.6 percent headed into the game) but the Wings made it hard on themselves to keep playing shorthanded. It took nearly half the third period before the Wings had a shot on net.
Rasmussen makes case
The rookie put the puck in the Panthers net at 9:31 of the first period, but the goal was called off after the Panthers challenged Justin Abdelkader interfered with goalie Michael Hutchinson.
Red Wings mailbag:Should Michael Rasmussen go back to juniors?
It was a good sign from Rasmussen, though, who is under scrutiny as he nears 10 games played — Saturday was his sixth game — because that means his entry-level contract kicks in. Rasmussen, 19, can’t be sent to the minors, so he either has to play for the Wings, or his junior team. He has looked tentative at times, but if he shows he’s figuring out how to be effective in the NHL, the Wings will chance keeping him past nine games. He can still be sent down after playing 10 or more games, but it burns a year of his contract.