Panthers Lose 4-3 In Shootout With Red Wings
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SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Thomas Vanek and Frans Nielsen scored in the shootout, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Friday night.
Anthony Mantha, Drew Miller and Nielsen scored for Detroit (15-15-4) in regulation. Jared Coreau made 31 saves for his first career win in his second start.
Florida lost for the fourth time in six games, including a 3-1 loss to Boston on Thursday night. Reilly Smith, Jason Demers and Derek MacKenzie scored for the Panthers (15-14-6), and Roberto Luongo made 36 saves.
Florida jumped in front on its third power play of the first period. With Detroit's Xavier Ouellet in the box for hooking, Smith fired a shot from above the left circle that bounced off Danny DeKeyser's stick with Florida's Vincent Trocheck screening Coreau.
The puck tipped off the edge of Coreau's glove and past him for Smith's seventh goal at 17:40.
The teams exchanged goals in the first 89 seconds of the second.
Mantha tied it just 12 seconds into the period when he grabbed a loose puck and made a move to beat Luongo low on the stick side for his sixth goal. Demers then blasted a long shot from near the blue line that beat Coreau high over his right shoulder for the defenseman's sixth goal at 1:29.
Smith, a 25-goal scorer last year in his first season with the Panthers, fell to the ice and clutched his face after taking a hard hit in the defensive zone from Niklas Kronwall 2:51 into the period.
He stayed down on the ice in pain and had blood from a cut on the inside of his visor when he skated off into the dressing room. He did not return.
MacKenzie one-timed a cross-ice pass from Matheson at 10:27 for his fourth goal, giving Florida a 3-1 advantage.
Miller cut the deficit to 3-2 with his third goal at 1:36 of the third on a sharp-angle shot from the left circle.
Detroit completed the rally when Nielsen beat Luongo in close for his eighth goal at 13:51.
NOTES: Detroit general manager Ken Holland announced G Jimmy Howard would miss four to six weeks with a knee injury suffered Tuesday in Tampa. Howard is 5-7-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. ... The Red Wings scratched Ds Mike Green and Brian Lashoff, and RW Tomas Jurco. ... Florida sent G Mike McKenna back to Springfield of the AHL after calling him up Thursday on an emergency basis. ... The Panthers scratched D Dylan McIlrath, C Denis Malgin and LW Shawn Thornton. ... Philadelphia Union and U.S. men's national team player Alejandro Bedoya was in attendance. The midfielder/winger graduated from nearby St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Host Buffalo on Tuesday night.
Panthers: Host Toronto on Wednesday night.
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