Red Wings beat Panthers 4-1 to send defending champs to second straight loss

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DETROIT (AP) — Cam Talbot made 21 saves, Mason Appleton scored twice and the Detroit Red Wings beat Florida 4-1 on Wednesday night to send the defending champion Panthers to their second straight loss.

The injury-hit Panthers began the season with home victories over Chicago, Philadelphia and Ottawa, then lost at Philadelphia on Monday.

Detroit has won three in a row. The Red Wings opened with a home loss to Montreal, then swept a home-and-home series with Toronto.

Appleton opened the scoring at 2:09 of the second on a snap shot. Patrick Kane added a power-play goal at 9:36, firing a shot from right side to the near top corner. Appleton put it away into an empty net with 1:58 left, and Michael Rasmussen also had an empty-netter.

Brad Marchand scored on a wraparound for Florida with 5:55 left in the second. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots.

Before the game, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said defenseman Dmitry Kulikov had surgery and is expected to be sidelined about five months because of an upper-body injury,

Florida also is missing stars forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk. Barkov will be out at least seven months because of a knee injury. Tkachuk could return in December from a torn adductor muscle.

Kulikov was hurt Oct. 9 in a 2-1 home victory over Philadelphia. Uvis Balinskis took Kulikov’s spot in the lineup against Detroit. The Panthers recalled defenseman Tobias Bjornfot from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

Panthers: At New Jersey on Thursday night.

Red Wings: Host Tampa Bay on Friday night. ___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl