Florida Panthers at Detroit Red Wings
· National Hockey League
Red Wings beat Panthers 4-1 to send defending champs to second straight loss
The injury-hit Panthers began the season with home victories over Chicago, Philadelphia and Ottawa, then lost at Philadelphia on Monday.
Detroit has won three in a row. The Red Wings opened with a home loss to Montreal, then swept a home-and-home series with Toronto.
Appleton opened the scoring at 2:09 of the second on a snap shot. Patrick Kane added a power-play goal at 9:36, firing a shot from right side to the near top corner. Appleton put it away into an empty net with 1:58 left, and Michael Rasmussen also had an empty-netter.
Brad Marchand scored on a wraparound for Florida with 5:55 left in the second. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots.
Before the game, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said defenseman Dmitry Kulikov had surgery and is expected to be sidelined about five months because of an upper-body injury,
Florida also is missing stars forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk. Barkov will be out at least seven months because of a knee injury. Tkachuk could return in December from a torn adductor muscle.
Kulikov was hurt Oct. 9 in a 2-1 home victory over Philadelphia. Uvis Balinskis took Kulikov’s spot in the lineup against Detroit. The Panthers recalled defenseman Tobias Bjornfot from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Sunday.
DET leads series 1-0
Scoring Summary
 |
Goal | 2nd Period 2:09 | Mason Appleton Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Dylan Larkin (2) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 9:36 | Patrick Kane Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: Moritz Seider (2), Dylan Larkin (3) |
 |
Goal | 2nd Period 14:05 | Brad Marchand Goal (3) Wrap-around, assists: Anton Lundell (3) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 18:02 | Mason Appleton Goal (3) Wrist Shot, assists: Michael Rasmussen (1), Alex DeBrincat (5) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 19:42 | Michael Rasmussen Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Alex DeBrincat (6) |
Statistics
 FLA |
 DET |
|
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Blocked Shots | 21 |
| 32 | Hits | 15 |
| 2 | Takeaways | 3 |
| 21 | Shots | 25 |
| 0 | Power Play Goals | 1 |
| 2 | Power Play Opportunities | 3 |
| 0.0 | Power Play Percentage | 33.3 |
| 0 | Short Handed Goals | 0 |
| 0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
| 27 | Faceoffs Won | 34 |
| 44.3 | Faceoff Win Percent | 55.7 |
| 15 | Giveaways | 23 |
| 3 | Total Penalties | 2 |
| 6 | Penalty Minutes | 4 |
Detroit Red Wings Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Patrick Kane, RW | Out | Oct 21 |
| Shai Buium, D | Injured Reserve | Oct 2 |
| Nate Danielson, C | Injured Reserve | Oct 2 |
Florida Panthers Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Dmitry Kulikov, D | Injured Reserve | Oct 15 |
| Matthew Tkachuk, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 7 |
| Tomas Nosek, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 7 |
| Aleksander Barkov, C | Injured Reserve | Oct 7 |
