RECAP: Florida Panthers 4, Detroit Red Wings 1
The Florida Panthers strung together their second win in a row to stay alive in the race for home ice advantage in the first round.
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers rode a three-goal second period to their second-straight victory.
Two days after snapping a five-game losing streak, the Panthers got themselves back in the conversation for home ice in the first round of the playoffs with a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Florida sits one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the division with three games to go. The Panthers finish their regular season in Tampa on Tuesday while the Lightning play one extra game in New York against the Rangers.
The Panthers also kept their Atlantic Division title hopes alive momentarily, pulling within four points of the division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 of 24 shots while defensemen Gustav Forsling and Uvis Balinskis had a pair of assists each.
Alex DeBrincat gave the Detroit Red Wings a 1-0 lead 6:13 into the first period, banging home a feed from Dylan Larkin from the slot.
From there, it was all Panthers.
Evan Rodrigues tied the game back up with a power play goal 2:58 into the second period. He drove in on net and stuffed a wrist shot past Cam Talbot to snap a personal 17-game goal drought.
Mackie Samoskevich spun off a defender and beat Talbot with a wrist shot less than six minutes later to put Florida up by two. It marked the rookie forward’s 15th goal of the season.
Brad Marchand scored his first goal as a Panther with 3:39 to go in the first to extend Florida’s lead to two goals. Eetu Luostarinen stopped a rush chance on one end, then helped Balinskis send Marchand on another. He finished the play off with a wrist shot for his 22nd goal of the year.
Barkov deflected a Seth Jones shot past Talbot with 5:57 to go to extend Florida’s lead to 4-1.
The Panthers will continue their four-game homestand on Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres. Florida will close out its home schedule against New York on Monday before finishing the season in Tampa on Tuesday.