RECAP: Red Wings fall, 5-1, to Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. --Captain Dylan Larkin and the Detroit Red Wings were admittedly disappointed in how Thursday's 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers materialized at FLA Live Arena.

"We just lacked, really, any grit in their offensive zone all night," Larkin said. "We didn't sustain pressure and win battles down there to keep puck alive."
After opening the scoring late in the first period, Florida jumped to a 3-0 lead with a pair of goals just 58 seconds apart early in the second. Later in the same frame, Jonatan Berggren scored Detroit's lone tally on a power play to make it 3-1, but Florida responded with back-to-back goals shortly before the second intermission. Both teams held each other scoreless in the third.
Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 36 saves for the Red Wings, while Austin Czarnik skated in his 150th career NHL game.
"Really disappointing," head coach Derek Lalonde said about Thursday's result. "A really easy night for Florida. It'll be interesting to see how our guys respond from this."
The loss snapped a four-game road winning streak for Detroit, which dropped to 13-8-5 overall. The Panthers improved to 13-10-4 (30 points).
NEXT UP: The Red Wings will conclude a four-game road trip on Saturday afternoon against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.

SCORING SUMMARY

Florida 1, Detroit 0 (18:05, 1st period)
Marc Staal, who spent the past two seasons with Detroit, set up Chris Tierney for a breakaway goal.
Florida 2, Detroit 0 (1:47, 2nd period)
Eetu Luostarinen tipped in Aleksander Barkov's shot from the slot.
Florida 3, Detroit 0 (2:45, 2nd period)
Sam Bennett's initial shot from the right faceoff circle was stopped by Nedeljkovic, but Josh Mahura buried the rebound less than a minute later.
Detroit 1, Florida 3 (8:09, 2nd period)
With time winding down on a Detroit power play, Lucas Raymond fired a shot from the left faceoff circle that was blocked by Florida netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. After Andrew Copp retreived the rebound and dislodged the puck, Berggren scooped it up and scored his fourth goal of the season. It was Berggren's second straight game with a tally, extending his point streak to three consecutive contests.

Florida 4, Detroit 1 (14:52, 2nd period)
Matt Kiersted sent a loose puck past Nedeljkovic for his first goal of the season.
Florida 5, Detroit 1 (15:35, 2nd period)
Carter Verhaeghe passed to Matthew Tkachuk, who raced ahead, used a quick move to create space and picked the corner to cap the scoring.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on if Detroit played its game against Florida
"If we play the way we're capable of, we give ourselves a chance. We just didn't give ourselves a chance at all tonight."
Larkin on what's next for the Red Wings
"We have a chance on Saturday to play a good team again and win the road trip. That's our main focus right now."
Larkin on Berggren's goal
"We didn't have an answer all night. That was good hope there with Bergy scoring, but giving up two right after was tough."