Panthers 3, Red Wings 2 (SO)
SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Detroit Red Wings for the second time in four days, prevailing 3-2 in a shootout Tuesday night at the BB&T Center.
Florida spoiled the return of Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk, who played for the first time since missing seven games due to a concussion. He had a goal and an assist Tuesday.
In the shootout for Detroit, right winger Daniel Aldredsson missed, left winger Tomas Tatar scored and right winger Gustav Nyquist missed.
In the shootout for Florida, center Aleksander Barkov scored with a backhand move, center Jonathan Huberdeau missed and right winger Brad Boyes scored for the win.
Detroit, which entered Tuesday with a league-best 10-3-1 road record, are fourth in the Eastern Conference with 38 points. The Panthers are in 14th place with 25 points.
The Panthers and goaltender Tim Thomas (9-10-1) beat Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, who entered Tuesday in a 1-4-4 slump in his past nine games. The Panthers also beat the Wings 2-1 Saturday in Detroit.
Florida, which had no power plays in the first period, was penalized three times in the opening 20 minutes. The first infraction was just 13 seconds into the game when winger Scottie Upshall was called for a face-off violation.
Florida killed that penalty, but Detroit struck on the next one, which was called on Barkov for tripping.
Detroit cashed in when center Johan Franzen sent a cross-ice pass to Datsyuk, whose slap shot was blocked by Thomas -- only to have right winger Todd Bertuzzi push home the rebound for his sixth goal of the season.
Earlier in the period, the Wings had an apparent goal by defenseman Jonathan Ericsson wiped out when right winger Daniel Cleary was called for goaltender interference.
Datsyuk made it 2-0 when he scored what has to be considered a superstitious goal, his 13th of the season, with 13:13 left in the second period. Ericsson faked a slap shot and instead shoveled a clever pass to Datsyuk, who was standing just to the left of Thomas and got the puck in before he could adjust.
With 15 minutes left in the third period, Florida finally got on the board on a tip-in by left winger Sean Bergeheim off a shot by defenseman Dmitry Kulikov. Bergenheim's third goal of the season cut Detroit's lead to 2-1.
Florida tied the score at 2 on center Nick Bjugstad's fifth goal of the season with 5:22 left in the third period. Defenseman Erik Gudbranson, working behind the Wings' net, left a pass behind him for Bjugstad, who roofed his shot past Howard.
NOTES: The Red Wings won five of the seven games without C Pavel Datsyuk, who suffered a concussion when struck by an elbow from Ottawa's Jared Cowen. ... Detroit C Stephen Weiss, who spent nearly a decade with the Panthers, played his first game in the BB&T Center since leaving Florida. The Panthers played a video tribute to Weiss before the game. ... Detroit LW Henrik Zetterberg (herniated disc) did not make the road trip. ... Detroit C Darren Helm (sprained shoulder) made the trip but likely won't play until next week. ... Detroit scratched RW Mikael Samuelsson. ... Florida scratched RW Krys Barch, D Mike Mottau and C Scott Gomez. ... Next up for the Panthers is Friday's home game against Washington. After that, the Panthers are gone for 20 days while they play four road games. ... Next up for Detroit is a road game Thursday at Tampa Bay. After that, the Wings open a four-game homestand Saturday against Pittsburgh.
