Panthers Claw Back From Three-Goal Deficit, Take Down Red Wings 5-4

The Florida Panthers sent over 19,000 fans home happy on Thursday night after pulling off their latest thrilling comeback victory.

This time, the win came at the expense of the visiting Detroit Red Wings.

Florida scored the first goal of the night just 3:52 into the opening period when a Sam Reinhart backhand trickled through the arm and body of John Gibson and over the goal line.

From there, it was a slow and steady stream of goals by the Red Wings.

They led 2-1 after the first period and appeared poised to take a 4-1 advantage into the third period after Marco Kasper beat Akira Schmid at the 12:08 mark of the middle frame.

Panthers defenseman Gus Forsling had other plans.

With less than 30 seconds on the clock, Forsling wisely pinched into the Red Wings’ zone to help Florida maintain possession, which led to the puck finding its way to a wide open Forsling moments along the boards.

He walked the puck to the middle of the ice and fired a wrist shot that found its way past a screened Gibson with just 17.8 left in the middle frame.

The Panthers may have been carrying a two-goal deficit into the third period, but thanks to Forsling’s goal, they also suddenly possessed all the momentum.

“It was a huge goal at the end of the period,” said Forsling. “I think we got some juice from that and we brought it into the third.”

It didn’t take long for Florida to cut even further into Detroit’s lead.

Just as a Panthers power play expired, Carter Verhaeghe unleashed a one-timer that struck the leg of Red Wings defenseman Andraes Englund and bounced right to Anton Lundell at the side of the crease.

Lundell showed off his silky smooth hands, making a couple quick moves to slide the puck around Gibson’s pad and glove as he desperately tried to keep it out of the net.

Florida’s players celebrated, the crowd popped, and the comeback was on.

“The 4-3 goal, I thought that cemented that we were on it,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “

For the next ten minutes, the Panthers continued a relentless attack on the Wings, but the score remained 4-3 in favor of the visitors.

That was until Niko Mikkola made a great play along the boards to block a Lucas Raymond clearing attempt and chase the puck into the corner to the right of Gibson.

He then elevated a pass over a sliding Moritz Seider toward the slot, where Lars Eller, seeing the puck in midair, choked up on his stick and batted it past Gibson to knot the score at four with 3:31 to go.

“He’s awesome,” Verhaeghe said of Eller. “He’s fun to play with. He protects the puck so well and he makes great plays.”

It was an impressive highlight reel goal that probably would’ve received more attention had it not been for the ridiculous play that was coming a few moments later.

As Florida continued to keep the pressure on Detroit, the new line of the Tkachuk brothers centered by Anton Lundell finished off a furious shift in the offensive zone with the game’s go-ahead goal.

The play started with Lundell digging the puck out of the corner to Gibson’s left and quickly sending a centering pass to Brady Tkachuk.

Gibson stopped Tkachuk’s attempt, but Brady’s momentum took him right to where Gibson’s rebound was heading, and that’s when the magic happened.

Without turning his head or even slowing down, Tkachuk sent a no-look backhand pass back across the zone to a waiting and wide open Lundell, who quickly wired a one-timer into the yawning cage with 2:40 to go.

“I don’t know how he found me,” Lundell said. “A no-look, falling pass, right on the tape. That was an unbelievable play.”

The win improved Florida’s record on the season to 11-7-2.

They are now 5-2-0 at Amerant Bank Arena, having played the fewest home games in NHL to date.

Of course, the Panthers are heading right back out on the road, playing a back-to-back this weekend in St. Louis and Dallas.

It’s the continuation of a tough stretch of games for Florida, one that Maurice said he knew would breed a couple tough outings.

“When I say I’m disappointed with our start, you know that’s coming on one of these seven (games) in 11 (days),” Maurice said. “Being able to handle it and stay in the game, even when you’re getting bad breaks around the net…some nights you’re ahead of the game, you’re playing great, you’re behind in the score but you’ve still got the belief. Tonight we were behind it, but we understood it. That was a pretty mature game.”

We’ll see how things continue to play out for the Panthers, but it seems they are heading toward greener pastures.

Once they return from this weekend’s quick doubleheader, Florida will finish out November with four of five games at home.

They are also expected to get both Sasha Barkov and Brad Marchand back from injury sometime during that span.

So while the current times are surely not bad – Florida currently holds a Wild Card spot and is four points back of Tampa for first in the Atlantic Division – it would make sense to think their best hockey remains ahead of them.

LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA

Sandis Vilmanis Returns, Akira Schmid Starts In Goal As Panthers Host Detroit

Weighing The Positives And Negatives Of Having Imama, Hathaway On The Panthers' Fourth Line

Sam Bennett Appears To Have Found Scoring Touch After Slow Start To Season

Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand 'Within 2 Weeks' Of Returning To Panthers Lineup, Per Paul Maurice

Panthers' Jack Devine Will Make Season Debut As Sandis Vilmanis Remains Out

Photo caption: Nov 12, 2026; Sunrise,Florida, USA;FloridaPantherscenter Anton Lundell (15) celebrates with defenseman Seth Jones (3) and left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) after scoring against the Detroit Red Wings during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)