Aaron Ekblad scored two goals to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 road win over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.
Aleksander Barkov added two assists for Florida, which won its second straight.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves in goal for Florida, his 17th win in his last 18 starts against Detroit.
Florida scored on both of its power-play attempts, while Detroit was 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
The Red Wings opened the scoring with a quick goal, taking a 1-0 lead 1:04 into the first when Jonatan Berggren tipped a point shot from Ben Chiarot past Bobrovsky.
The Panthers answered just 1:29 later, tying the game at 1-1 when Gustav Forsling fired a shot from the point that got through traffic in front of the Detroit net and past Red Wings goalie Ville Husso.
On a power play, Florida took a 2-1 lead with 13:32 remaining in the second when Ekblad took a pass from Barkov right in front of Husso and buried the chance glove side.
Florida struck again on the power play with 11:49 remaining in the game, taking a 3-1 lead when Ekblad buried a rebound to the left of Husso that was created from a shot by Barkov.
With 3:50 remaining and having an offensive zone face-off, Detroit pulled Husso and cut Florida’s lead to 3-2 on a goal by Robby Fabbri, who fired a shot from the right face-off circle that got through Bobrovsky with 3:43 left.
It was Fabbri’s first goal of the year in what was his second game back following ACL surgery.
Detroit once again pulled Husso with under two minutes left and then had a 6-on-4 opportunity following a penalty on Ekblad with 40 seconds remaining.
The Red Wings won the face-off and sustained pressure in Florida’s zone but couldn’t get a shot past Husso before time expired.
–Field Level Media
