Red Wings Power Play Bests Panthers, Barkov Wins Finnish Athlete of the Year

SUNRISE, Fla.  — Special teams success was the key to victory for the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

The Red Wings dominated on the power play, scoring three times on just four shots to take down the Florida Panthers 5-2 at Amerant Bank Arena. 

Cam Talbot had 41 saves — while stopping all 23 shots in the third period — as the Red Wings picked up its seventh win in the past eight games.

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin scored the game winner, and led all skaters with two goals and three points on the night. 

While losing on Thursday, the Panthers felt that the game came down to the special teams battle, as they controlled the majority of even strength play, outscoring the Red Wings 2-1 at 5-on-5 and generating 39 more even strength shot attempts, per NaturalStatTrick.

“We gotta stay out of the box,” Panther forward Evan Rodrigues said. “The past six, even games we’ve been taking a lot of penalties. That cost us tonight.”

“Even strength we played well, I think special teams won them the game today,” Rodrigues added. 

After conceding four goals on 15 shots, Sergei Bobrovsky’s night game came to an end with 4:19 to play in the second period. Spencer Knight, who had 26 saves in Florida’s last game against the New Jersey Devils, played the rest of the way on Thursday night.

“Some nights the guys get unlucky in the net,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Bobrovsky. “Sergei doesn’t get pulled very often and it wasn’t a ‘I gotta get him out of there for us to win the game.’

Knight didn’t see much action when he took over the net, facing just four shots in 22:02 of game time. 

The Panthers will be back at home on Saturday night to face the Anaheim Ducks.

Panthers Notes

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov was named Finland’s Athlete of the Year earlier in the day. 

“It means the world to me to be honest,” Barkov said of winning the award. “It’s athlete of the year in Finland, the country where I was born, where I was raised and grew up watching national teams play. 

He became the first hockey player ever to win the award. 

“It’s a huge honor to be the first hockey player [to win],” Barkov continued. “I was surprised. Finland had so many good hockey players, but there’ve been great athletes from other sports as well. But I’m very happy.”

On an injury standpoint, defenseman Aaron Ekblad (undisclosed) missed his fourth consecutive game on Thursday.