Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings secured a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday night. Mason Appleton led the team with two goals, while goaltender Cam Talbot made 20 saves and the Red Wings successfully killed both of their penalties.

“Wins are coming in different ways,” said Appleton, who achieved his first multi-point game as a Red Wing and his third career NHL multi-goal game. “Guys are stepping up. We have a goaltender who’s playing great hockey, so there’s a lot of different recipes to win in this League. We’re displaying that, but at the same time we’re trying to build towards a playoff-style game and game that fits our roster.”

With this result, Detroit improved its record to 3-1-0 for the season and extended its winning streak to three games. The Panthers dropped to 3-2-0 after losing their second straight game. Since January 16, 2025, Detroit has won three out of four games against Florida.

“Sometimes, the goaltender needs to win you one,” said Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan. “Sometimes, teams win you one. Special teams have won us one the last couple nights, we’ve ended up on the positive side, so we should be confident but far from arrogant.”

After a scoreless first period in which Detroit outshot Florida 9-8, Appleton scored early in the second period off a pass from Dylan Larkin. With Lucas Raymond sidelined due to an upper body injury, Appleton filled in on the top line and scored his second goal in as many games.

“Being in the right place at the right time, that’s something I’ve noticed playing with [Appleton] and he seems to be able to skate,” Larkin said. “I’ve really enjoyed playing with him. It’s been one-plus game, but he’s brought some straight lines and a good veteran presence on our line.”

Patrick Kane added another goal during a 5-on-3 power play later in the period, assisted by Moritz Seider and Larkin. This was Kane's second goal of the season and his 494th career NHL goal.

“I think something we’ve been doing well is that we’ve been a good second-period team,” Larkin said. “I don’t know what the numbers say about that, but we’ve really built momentum, tried to change quick on them, keep their D pinned in and create O-zone buzz.”

Florida responded with a wrap-around goal by Brad Marchand midway through the second period. McLellan commented on how his team handled conceding:

“I thought we did a good job there,” McLellan said. “They had some pressure. They’re going to do that to you. They scored, but it was kind of a ‘What just happened?’-type goal with the face-off and the walk-around. A little bit of a missed assignment and that’s probably one Talbs would tell you he’d like to have back. I thought we settled down. There was no panic or over-excitement.”

In the final minutes of regulation, Appleton scored into an empty net for his second goal of the night after Bobrovsky was pulled for an extra attacker; Michael Rasmussen followed with another empty-netter for Detroit.

“We played, probably, five of the last minutes short because they pulled their goalie a couple times,” McLellan said. “But some poise, some smart plays and some good body position on loose, scrambly-type pucks. We didn’t cheat on the offensive side or go fishing.”

Detroit will next host Tampa Bay Lightning for Star Wars Night at Little Caesars Arena on Friday.

Reflecting on beating Florida, Larkin said: “Yeah, absolutely. Every win goes a long way. The back-to-back champs-- that’s a good hockey team over there. We were down without Lucas and guys stepped up. Power play was still good. We didn’t just sit back the whole third. We had some chances, pressed, skated. Every win is big, but it does feel good, especially at home, to beat the back-to-back champs.”

Discussing Detroit's start to this season after an opening night loss: “Last time I talked, [Opening Night] was a head scratcher. I don’t want to dwell in the past, but the response we’ve had says a lot. We got challenged right away, from Day 1, about being mentally resilient and mentally tough. I think we’ve all shown it and showed that we’re capable of it. We’ve shown we can play with a lead and showed when we’re not playing well, we can get some saves from our goaltending and steal games that way. We’ve really done it with our depth in different ways as well.”

Appleton credited Detroit's penalty kill: “The PK has been really good. We’ve been building a lot of confidence, too. You give up a couple, say early in the season, you can’t feel good and your mindset shifts a little bit. But when you’re building and getting kills you stay aggressive; you don’t think as much; you just make simple reads; your sticks and bodies are in the right spot.”