Lundell’s two goals lead Panthers over Red Wings 6-2

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Anton Lundell scored twice, Aleksander Barkov had three assists and the Florida Panthers beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 Saturday night to close a five-game homestand.

Mason Marchment, Anthony Duclair and Lundell scored in the first period as the home side built a commanding 3-1 lead.

Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist, and Lucas Carlsson netted one as the Panthers finished their homestand 2-3-0 and moved to 25-6-0 on home ice.

Sam Reinhart and MacKenzie Weegar each had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots.

“This group realizes where they want to be and where they want to go,” Florida interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “It’s not too hard to motivate them. They want to be great.”

The Finnish center Lundell — a key piece on the penalty kill — has 14 goals and 24 assists in 51 games during his rookie year.

“We were able to get the puck to him tonight, and he’s a finisher,” Reinhart said of Lundell, who is in a Calder Trophy battle with the Red Wings’ Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond as the league’s top rookie.

When asked if he was excited to face off against Detroit’s first-year standouts, Lundell replied, “Yeah, maybe a little bit.”

Robby Fabbri and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Detroit, which was swept in its two-game Florida road trip and is 2-5-0 in the past seven games.

Thomas Greiss left in the second period after surrendering his fifth goal on 23 shots. Alex Nedeljkovic replaced him and made 15 saves.

Florida struck 4:10 into the first period when Marchment collected a rebound and flipped in a backhander for his 13th goal. Detroit answered just over three minutes later when Fabbri, positioned in the slot, perfectly angled in Danny DeKeyser’s long shot for his 16th.

On the game’s first power play, Florida took advantage of a breakout that led to an odd-man rush, ending with Duclair one-timing his 21st goal off a slick pass by Reinhart with nine minutes left.

Lundell padded the lead on the Panthers’ third man advantage. His pass from the goal line intended for a charging Marchment was redirected in by Detroit’s Gustav Lindstrom at 18:02.

In the second, just as the Red Wings’ second power play ended, a wide-open Bennett took a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau and deked Greiss for his 24th goal at 7:54.

“I thought after the first, we didn’t win any stick battles, any physical battles,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “They skated through us too much. When you look at it, we gave up two power-play goals and basically pretty close to a short-handed goal.

“We’ve got to do a better job on our special teams and make sure we do a better job when we get down to find a way to fight our way back into it.”

Carlsson took a pass near his club’s goal line, sprinted end-to-end and wired his third goal at 11:01 to chase Greiss and bring on Nedeljkovic, who gave up Lundell’s 14th tally at 16:13 to cap Florida’s second three-goal frame.

“They’re a deep team and they play fast,” said Detroit’s Sam Gagner.

Bertuzzi’s 24th tally with 5:14 remaining closed the scoring.

NOTES: Fabbri played in his 300th NHL game. … Florida finished 2 for 3 on the power play. … Seider’s eight-game point streak ended Saturday. It was the longest ever by a Detroit rookie blueliner.

UP NEXT

Red Wings: Host Arizona on Tuesday.

Panthers: Visit Buffalo on Monday.

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Bill Whitehead, The Associated Press