The desperation lacked at the start, but the points were there at the finish.
The Detroit Red Wings were able to take advantage of a Florida Panthers team sorely lacking in star power Sunday, overcoming a subpar performance to claim a 2-1 victory in what was the Wings' second-to-last regular-season game at Little Caesars Arena this season. It's the first time since Feb. 23-25 the Wings have won consecutive games. Cam Talbot came through with 32 saves and was scored on by Mackie Samoskevich with 40 seconds to go.
The Wings (36-33-7) have seven points over their past four games. They have six games left, and the next one is a big one: Tuesday at the Montreal Canadiens, who occupy the East's second and final wild-card berth, with the Wings four points behind them.
Sunday's performance was lacking in energy and execution, but two second-period goals gave the Wings a cushion: Alex DeBrincat used a power play to score his 35th goal of the season, and J.T. Compher scored his 10th of the season. The third period was punctuated by a big scrum with about seven minutes to go. If there's anything left to settle, the teams can do so on Thursday, when they meet again in Florida.
Missing some bite
The Panthers were without top forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Alexander Barkov (both injured), Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart, and top defenseman Aaron Ekblad (suspended), giving a minor-league flavor to the lineup. The Panthers also played the day before in Ottawa, where top netminder Sergei Bobrovsky got the start, so the Wings faced backup Vitek Vanecek.
Sorry start
For all the players the Panthers didn't have, they still outworked the Wings in the first period, maneuvering the puck around Detroit's zone with efficiency and forcing 10 saves from Talbot. Even when super-beast Brad Marchand, a trade-deadline acquisition, landed in the penalty box for hooking Simon Edvinsson, the best the Wings got against Vanecek was a shot by Lucas Raymond from just outside the left post. The second power play unit did little to help; in fact, Vladimir Taraseko's decision to immediately pass the puck back to Edvinsson led to the Panthers intercepting the puck.
