Mason Appleton scored a pair of goals and the host Detroit Red Wings won their third straight by downing the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Wednesday.
Patrick Kane and Michael Rasmussen had the other Red Wings goals, while Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat added two assists apiece. Cam Talbot made 21 saves.
Brad Marchand scored for Florida and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots. Florida is 0-2-0 on its five-game road trip.
Lucas Raymond, who led the Red Wings in points last season and scored two goals against Toronto on Saturday, missed the contest due to an upper-body injury.
The Panthers announced on Wednesday that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov will miss five months after undergoing surgery to replace a labrum tear in his right shoulder.
The teams had an equal number of shots on goal in the first period — nine apiece — but neither side could break through. Neither team had a power play. Bobrovsky made the biggest save in the period, a sliding stop against Larkin on a 2-on-1 break.
Appleton, who scored a decisive goal against the Maple Leafs on Monday, ended the scoring drought. He fired a shot from the right circle past Bobrovsky’s left pad at 2:09 of the second period. Larkin set him up after winning a puck battle in Florida’s zone.
The Panthers were awarded the first power play after Marco Kasper was penalized for cross-checking. They failed to convert and Aaron Ekblad was called for tripping before Kasper’s penalty expired.
It eventually turned into a 5-on-3 advantage for Detroit after Niko Mikkola was sent to the box. Kane converted with a wrist shot from the right circle at 9:36. Moritz Seider and Larkin had the assists.
Marchand made it 2-1 with 5:55 left in the period on a wraparound goal, squeezing a shot through Talbot’s pad. Anton Lundell won a faceoff in Detroit’s zone and collected the assist.
Appleton’s empty-netter with 1:58 remaining clinched Detroit’s win. Rasmussen had an assist, then added another empty-netter with 18 seconds left.
DeBrincat assisted on both empty-net goals.
