The Red Wings douse the Panthers

Kane strikes, Talbot holds, Florida goes cold

Form meant nothing here

Last season the Detroit Red Wings finished 21st of 32. The Florida Panthers finished 11th. In the round of 16 at Little Caesars Arena, the shelf ignored all of it. Both clubs came in with a scalp from qualification night, Florida over the Senators and Detroit over the Maple Leafs. Detroit knew exactly what losing here meant: a year ago the Wings were snuffed in this very round by the Buffalo Sabres.

Kane cashes the advantage

After a scoreless first, the second period belonged to Detroit. Mason Appleton snapped one past Sergei Bobrovsky at 2:09, with Dylan Larkin feeding him. Then Florida's discipline cracked. Aaron Ekblad tripped at 8:14, Niko Mikkola went off for cross checking at 9:30, and at 9:36 Patrick Kane fired a power-play wrister, set up by Moritz Seider and Larkin. It stood as the winner.

Florida bit back at 14:05, when Brad Marchand tucked in a wraparound off Anton Lundell's feed.

Talbot closes the door

After that, Cam Talbot let nothing through. The next goal took 23:57 to arrive, and Talbot finished with 20 saves on 21 shots. With the Florida net empty, Appleton buried a wrister at 18:02 and Michael Rasmussen tipped in another at 19:42, with Alex DeBrincat assisting both. The Panthers' flame went dark. The Red Wings burn on, one of 13 still lit.