Brad Marchand breaks through as Panthers top Red Wings

Brad Marchand scored his first goal as a member of the Panthers as host Florida defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Thursday night in Sunrise.

Marchand, after 15-plus seasons with the Boston Bruins, made his Panthers debut on March 28, acquired to provide veteran leadership as the reigning Stanley Cup champions begin their playoff run.

Evan Rodrigues, Mackie Samoskevich and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers (46-29-4, 96 points).

For Barkov, it was his 20th goal of the season, giving him 10 straight seasons hitting that mark.

Defensemen Gustav Forsling and Uvis Balinskis had two assists each for the Panthers, who got 22 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

In total, Florida got six points from its defensemen, including one assist each Nate Schmidt and Seth Jones.

It was the second straight win for the Panthers, who sit one point behind Tampa Bay and four back of first-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division. Thursday's win was No. 915 for Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who passed Barry Trotz for third place in NHL history.

Alex DeBrincat scored Detroit's only goal and Cam Talbot made 27 saves for the Red Wings (36-35-7, 79 points). DeBrincat leads Detroit with 36 goals.

The Panthers were without five injured players due to injuries, including top forwards Sam Bennett (25 goals), Matthew Tkachuk (22 goals), and Carter Verhaeghe (18 goals).

Detroit opened the scoring just 6:13 into the first period. The Red Wings dumped the puck in and Dylan Larkin went behind the net and whipped a centering pass to DeBrincat, who scored on a one-timer.

Thanks to their second power-play unit, the Panthers tied the score with 17:02 remaining in the second. Rodrigues, left alone a couple of strides from the net, charged forward and jammed in a bad-angle goal.

Florida took a 2-1 lead on Samoskevich's goal with 11:14 remaining in the second. The play started with Forsling's shot partially blocked. Samoskevich picked up the loose puck with his back to the net. He then turned and fired, beating Talbot top shelf to the glove side.

The Panthers extended their lead to 3-1 with 3:39 left in the second. The play started when Forsling dove to break up a would-be breakaway by Patrick Kane. Six seconds later, Marchand scored, taking a pass ahead by Balinskis and then flipping the puck over Talbot's glove.

Florida made it 4-1 with 5:57 left in the third as Barkov scored on a deflection. Jones had the primary assist.

--Field Level Media