DETROIT — The Red Wings did a better job of keeping pucks out of their net Friday, but still aren't putting enough of them into the net on the other side.
The Wings didn't fall behind early, that was an improvement, and only allowed three goals but it was enough to lose to the Florida Panthers, 3-2.
Aaron Ekblad's power-play goal in the second period broke a 1-1 tie, then added another power-play tally in the third period to give the Panthers some cushion.
Robby Fabbri, in only his second game since returning from major knee surgery, scored his first goal at 16:17 of the third period, cutting the lead to 3-2. With goaltender Ville Husso pulled, the Wings won the draw and worked the puck to Fabbri who snapped a shot from the hashmarks.
The Wings had a two-man advantage (pulling Husso, and a Panthers penalty) for the final 39.5 seconds but failed to convert.
Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots and was instrumental the entire evening.
Bobrovsky was sensational in the third period, robbing Dylan Larkin with a glove save early on, then Dominik Kubalik during a short-lived power play
Bobrovsky has struggled this season (now 9-12-1, 3.32 GAA, .894 SVS) but has been a thorn to the Wings throughout his career (23-6-1, .937 SVS).
The Wings again struggled on the special teams. Florida scored two power-play goals, and killed all five Wings' power plays.
Jonatan Berggren opened the game's scoring just 1 minute, 4 seconds into the game, giving the Wings a quick 1-0 lead. Berggren scored his sixth goal, deflecting Ben Chiarot's shot from the high slot.
But the Panthers answered quickly, with Gustav Forsling slapping a shot from the top of the slot past Husso at 2:33, Forsling's sixth goal, tying the game at 1.
Ekblad broke the tie with his power play goal at 6:28 of the second period.
Aleksander Barkov worked the puck down near the corner, then found Ekblad pinching down the slot. Ekblad got the pass and snapped a shot past Husso from near the hashmarks, Ekblad's fifth goal.
Ekblad added his sixth, making it 3-1, in the third period. Barkov snapped a shot from the dot that Husso made the stop, but the rebound went directly to Ekblad pinching from the side and Ekblad easily placed the puck past Husso at 8:11.
The Wings came into this game having allowed 31 goals over their last games, and had trouble in the first period over the last four, being outscored 7-0.
But coach Derek Lalonde talked the last several days of how those numbers didn't reflect how the Wings looked five-on-five.
"Our process has been very similar," Lalonde said. "Goals against have crept up but the chances against, our underlying numbers, have not. They've been pretty consistent with where we’ve been when we’ve had some success.
"Is that good enough? I don't know. Is that a product of some goals we may want back? Maybe. But I haven't really looked that closely into the goals against because overall play has been fairly consistent with some underlying numbers."
Looking at the standings, the Wings are gradually losing sight of the some of the teams above them in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference playoff chase.
The playoffs haven't been talked about much in recent seasons, but Larkin said earlier this week it is a topic with this current roster. And the playoffs are definitely something the Wings are aspiring towards.
"There's an urgency in our room that hasn't quite been there the past couple years," Larkin said. "I give a lot of credit to some of the guys who have come in, some of the younger guys who want more for themselves and their careers."
While the losses have been piling up, Lalonde hasn't been disappointed or displeased about the Wings' effort.
"If we don't play at a high compete level, we're not going to have much of a chance," Lalonde said. "We've given ourselves a chance. Again, you can pick us apart on structure play at times. But for the most part, our compete and care level has been really good."
