The Red Wings hosted the last-place Florida Panthers in a Saturday afternoon matinee. It was a tight matchup, which the visitors managed to win by a small margin of 2-1.
Roberto Luongo was on his game and controlled his rebounds very well. It is easy to see how he’s only 21 wins shy of 500 on his career.
After one period of play, the Cats struck twice with goals by Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov. Hoffman’s rocket came only 8 seconds into a Florida man-advantage when he one-timed a shot past Jimmy Howard. Hoffman is lethal on the power play, as he now has 17 power play points in 34 games played.
Dadonov’s goal came short-side on a rush with help from linemates Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov.
Detroit found the scoreboard at the exact midway point of the second, as Thomas Vanek scored on a wraparound attempt in which he quickly skated behind the netminder Robert Luongo, then stretched across the crease to score far side.
A key stat in the loss was the man-advantage category of which the Wings were 0-for-4.
Injuries
The Wings are still without some of their key players, including offensive defensemen Mike Green, speedster Darren Helm, and power forward Anthony Mantha.
Mike Green – Lower-body
Danny DeKeyser – Hand
Anthony Mantha – Hand
Darren Helm – Upper-body
A Look Ahead
Detroit heads to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs Sunday at 7:30 before the league breaks for Christmas. They will resume on Thursday in Pittsburgh before traveling to Dallas on Saturday, at 7:00 and 8:00 ET respectively.
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Kevin Sporka
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