*Photo from Reuters*
The motor city is beginning to hum along. Olli Maatta had two assists, Dylan Larkin had the winning goal, and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Florida Panthers with a 3-2 overtime victory on Wednesday night in Sunrise.
The Red Wings have surged up to 3rd place in the Atlantic Division, holding a 23-16-5 record, a 7-2-1 streak in their last 10 games, and 3 straight wins. Maatta had two assists and Michael Rasmussen had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings to lead them on the scoresheet.
Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said of the win that "We battled for 40 minutes, were down 2-1 going into the third, and had a chance. Give these guys credit, it is very hard to win in this league. It is hard to win on the road. It is hard beating a top-echelon team, especially trailing going into the third. Good on our guys."
After a scoreless first period, the Panthers got the scoring started in the second period. Sam Reinhart scored shorthanded to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead on his 33rd goal of the season at the 5:38 mark of the period. Rasmussen scored to tie the game 1-1 with Maatta and Andrew Copp assisting on his 10th goal of the season.
Just 16 seconds later, Gustav Forsling scored his 6th goal of the season to put the Panthers ahead 2-1 with Reinhart assisting. The only goal of the 3rd period came from Robby Fabbri, scoring his 13th goal of the season to tie the game 2-2. On the power play 1:09 into overtime, Larkin scored his 18th goal of the season to give Detroit the win.
Getting the start for the Red Wings was Alex Lyon, making his first trip back to Florida since he led the Panthers to the playoffs. Lyon made 32 saves on 34 shots against his old squad, good for a .941 save percentage in the win.
Lyon said after the game that "Obviously, it always feels good to beat the team you played for last year, but I respect those guys, and they have a fantastic team over there. We played really well tonight. I am super happy for the boys. Proud of the way we battled back."
It was Sergei Bobrovsky who started between the pipes for the Panthers, taking the OT loss to drop to 21-10-2 in 33 starts. Bobrovsky stopped 26 of the 29 shots the Panthers tested him with, giving him a .897 save percentage.
Reinhart said of the loss in OT that "We had another lead in the third period, and we take pride in being a hard team to play against, especially late in games when we have the lead. We did not give them much, but they capitalized. We’re going to learn from it and come back stronger. This was a tight game, two teams playing solid defensively. They capitalized late."
Both teams get back in action on Friday night. Lyon is the projected starter for the Red Wings as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes, while Bobrovsky is expected to start when the Panthers face off against the Minnesota Wild.
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