The Detroit Red Wings had a chance to hand the Florida Panthers their first loss of the season, but just fell short in a 3-2 OT thriller.
The first period was bang-bang for a good stretch of the middle portion, where both teams traded outstanding chances. Florida jumped on the board first with a goal from Eetu Luostarinen right off the faceoff. The Red Wings would yield their second goal after Aleksander Barkov banged the puck in as it sat on the goal line beneath Alex Nedeljkovic. It seemed like they could have blown the whistle, but Detroit found itself down 2-0.
Lucas Raymond continued his fantastic play, and had a jaw dropping move on an entry during the power play that was snagged by Sergei Bobrovsky. It showed yet again just how good Raymond is for this team.
Sam Gagner got Detroit on the board in the second period with a redirection of a Troy Stecher shot, pulling the Red Wings within a goal. The game again went back and forth, but neither team was able to register a goal in the second frame of the contest. Florida was awarded a power play near the end of the second when Moritz Seider was whistled for a trip–which honestly–looked suspect.
The game again went back and forth until at the 6:15 mark of the third period there was utter chaos that saw the Red Wings make one defensive play after another. In order:
Erne blocked shot, Fabbri two blocked shots, Ned a sliding save, another blocked shot, broken stick, and then a clear to a roaring Little Caesars Arena crowd. Say what you will–but this team has heart and is starting to turn the corner before our eyes.
And then came the tying goal. Seider ripped a shot from the point that Pius Suter redirected for his first goal as a Red Wing, tying the game at two. After some rushes back and forth, the Red Wings would get a point and head to overtime.
The Red Wings best chance in the extra period would come when Nick Leddy and Dylan Larkin had a two on one chance. Leddy slid a pass in the slot over to Larkin and it just rolled past Larkin’s stick to nullify the chance.
Florida would put the game away on a Barkov goal as he slipped past all three Wings and buried the winner. Florida remains perfect at 8-0-0 and the Wings fall to 4-2-2
Regardless of the outcome, the Red Wings took the NHL”s best team right now to overtime and continue to be in every game (sans the Montreal debacle) so far.
Detroit plays again tomorrow against the Maple Leafs.