Nyquist Lifts Red Wings Past Panthers 3-1
PAUL GEREFFI, Associated Press
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Gustav Nyquist scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, helping lift the Detroit Red Wings over the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Thursday night.
Brian Lashoff and Daniel Alfredsson also scored and Jimmy Howard made 23 saves as the Red Wings ended a four-game road losing streak.
Scottie Upshall scored and Tim Thomas stopped 30 shots for Florida, which has lost four of its last five.
Detroit took a 2-1 lead when Nyquist grabbed a rebound in the slot in the Red Wings' zone, brought it along the left boards and beat Thomas high on the stick side at 13:22. Nyquist has nine goals in his last nine games.
Lashoff added an empty-net goal with 20 seconds left.
Florida took a 1-0 lead in the first despite a slow start. Upshall came out of the penalty box just in time to take a pass from Tomas Kopecky behind the Red Wings' defense. His wrist shot from the slot went five-hole on Howard with 26 seconds left in the period — only the second shot of the game for Florida.
The Red Wings tied it at 1 on Alfredsson's power-play goal at 6:30 of the second when he found a loose puck in front and swept it past Thomas's stick.
The Panthers, coming off a season-high 48 shots Tuesday against Toronto, managed only two shots in the first, a season-low for a period. At the end of the second, they were outshot 23-8.
NOTES: Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk, who missed the past 14 games with a lower-body injury, returned to the lineup Thursday. . D Jakub Kindl missed the game with a lower-body injury. . Kopecky recorded his 100th NHL assist.
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