George Richards, FHN Publisher
Aleksi Heponiemi got quite a welcome to the NHL on Saturday night as he scored the game-winner in overtime as the Florida Panthers beat the host Detroit Red Wings 3-2.
Heponiemi, making his NHL debut after playing at AHL Springfield last season, not only got a lot of playing time Saturday but some important shifts as well.
“To score your first goal in your first game in overtime,” Keith Yandle mused afterward, “you always remember your first one, but he’s going to be telling his great-grandkids about that. As he should.
In overtime, he and Anthony Duclair teamed up for the game-winning goal. Duclair now has six assists — including one in each of Florida’s first five games.
“I can’t really feel better after getting those two points and obviously getting the goal,” said Heponiemi, who took the first-game solo skate before warmups.
“I don’t know what to say…this is just an amazing feeling. I I just got some of those nervous shifts out of the way and was enjoying the ice time. Q put me out there in an important moment and that means a lot. It is just an amazing feeling.”
Said Joel Quenneville: “He really got better as the game went along. He was out there in the last minute of the game. He had an outstanding camp, I appreciated the way he competed every day with the taxi group.”
Florida led 1-0 early on a power play goal from Sasha Barkov — which pulled him into a tie with Scott Mellanby for second-most (157) in franchise history — but the Red Wings battled back thanks to some soft play by the Panthers and took a 2-1 lead.
But with half a second left in the opening period, Yandle charged in on a power play and scored, tying things up.
And that’s where the game stood until Heponiemi put it away.
Florida, which has not led in a third period since the opening night win against Chicago, is now 4-0-1 with points in all five of their games in 2021.
“You want to get points and we’re seeing an abnormal number of tie games in the league,” Quenneville said. “I don’t know if it’s the familiarity in the back-to-back nights, familiarity of the division where everyone knows how to play each other.”
The Red Wings lost Tyler Bertuzzi and Luke Glendenning to injury during the game perhaps leaving them even more shorthanded in the rematch Sunday afternoon.
Florida and the Wings go at it again at 5 p.m.
Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves in the game as he rolled to 3-0 this season. All of his wins have come either in overtime or a shootout.
”Obviously a big win for us and that’s important at this time of the year,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s important to get the one point going to overtime, but to get the second makes a big deal in the locker room feelings-wise and obviously in the standings.”
Former New York Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, who helped kick Florida out of the 2016 postseason, was strong as usual against the Panthers, stopping 23 shots and keeping the Red Wings in the game.
Now, to the breakdown of Saturday’s game:
First period highlights
The Panthers looked sharp on the power play in the opening period but were a little sloppy defensively and it cost them.
Florida got its first penalty two minutes in and Barkov knocked in a loose puck (originally credited to Patric Hornqvist) to make it 1-0.
Later in the period, a soft clearing pass from Jonathan Huberdeau was picked off at center ice and the Red Wings came charing up the ice, an uncovered Anthony Matha charging in to clean up a Bobrovsky rebound.
Less than two minutes later, Detroit made it 2-1 when Tyler Bertuzzi was all by himself and pounced on a puck Bobrovsky couldn’t handle.
“We had a letdown at the end of the first,” Huberdeau told FSF during intermission, “and they took advantage.”
With around 37 seconds left in the period, the Panthers got their second power play and kept possession until the end of the period.
There was only .5 seconds remaining on the clock when Yandle charged in and hammered a shot past a downed Greiss to tie the score.
”I looked up and there were like five or six seconds and then I looked when I scored and it said zero seconds,” Yandle said.
“I kind of thought we missed our chance. It was nice to get that one, get some momentum going into the second period.”
The Panthers were outshot 12-11 in the period with the Wings taking 23 shot attempts to Florida’s 19.
Second period highlights
It was a scoreless period headlined by trips to the penalty box by Yandle.
After Florida failed to score on the power play for the first time when Owen Tippett got tripped up and Carter Verhaeghe and Anthony Duclair couldn’t connect, Yandle got whistled for his first tripping at 6:36.
The Panthers killed that off pretty easily with Detroit not getting a shot off, but moments after getting out of the box, Yandle went back with another tripping call at 10:33.
This time, Detroit was able to put some pressure on the Panthers and Bobrovsky with three shots off, but didn’t score.
Florida had a couple more scoring chances late in the period, but ended up on the kill again when Huberdeau got called for holding with 30 seconds remaining in the period.
Third period highlights
Florida killed off the final 1:30 of the Huberdeau penalty and had numerous scoring chances — as did Detroit.
Mantha, who scored Detroit’s first goal, was stopped by Bobrovsky on a point-blank shot off a rush midway through the period.
Florida then had three prime scoring chances with Tippett and Vatrano both challenging Greiss.
With 3:13 left, Mathias Brome charged in but his one-handed shot was stopped by Bobrovsky and swept out of trouble by MacKenzie Weegar who played a big defensive role in the third.
”He made a good move,” Bobrovsky said. “He pulled the puck to the right side of me to open up low blocker but then he dragged it back on the one hand. It was tough. I tried to stay focused and patient and outwait him. That little bit gave me enough time to get a little piece of it.”
Lammikko’s backhanded shot with 53 seconds could have won it, but Greiss made yet another save.
Overtime highlights
Duclair had a chance on a breakaway that was stopped with the puck coming out. Duclair picked off the puck in the Florida zone, went back in and chipped it over to Heponiemi for the game-winner.
”I like the way the Duke takes the puck to the net,” Quenneville said. “He doesn’t shy away from cutting in and he is a threat to score. His speed is a big part of that line’s success.”
Florida Panthers at Detroit Red Wings
When: Sunday, 5 p.m.
Where: Little Caesars Arena; Detroit, Mich.
TV/Radio: FSF/560-AM