Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman gave his team a show of confidence Friday afternoon by making an aggressive trade to add veteran defenseman Justin Faulk.

“It’s showing he believes in the group and what we’ve done this far,” Detroit defenseman Ben Chiarot said. “Been a place here where they really been trying to gather prospects, gather picks. . . It’s a great sign for what we’ve accomplished so far. And we need to pick it up and have better efforts than we did tonight.”

The Red Wings’ offensive struggles continued as they failed to score an even-strength goal in a 3-1 loss to a tired Florida Panthers team that had played and lost the night before. The Florida Panthers have all but raised the white flag on their playoff hopes.

“Probably a little flat offensively,”  Chiarot said of his Red Wings. “A little flat defensively.”

Matthew Tkachuk, a member of USA’s gold medal-winning Olympic team, scored all three goals for the Panthers. He scored at 11:06 of the first period to give Florida the 1-0 lead. The Red Wings tied the game 1-1 on Alex DeBrincat’s 5-on-3 power play goal.

Tkachuk scored the winning goal on a power play in the opening minute of the third period and then added an insurance goal into an empty net. Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves against the Red Wings

The Red Wings have scored two or fewer goals in six out of their last eight games. It didn’t help that Detroit captain Dylan Larkin had to leave the game in the third period with an apparent injury. He didn’t return. Coach Todd McLellan said the injury is not believed to be long-term

Takeaways

Newly acquired Justin Faulk will join the Red Wings in New Jersey. . . Alex DeBrincat scored on the power play for his team-leading 33rd goal of the season. It was his 12th power play goal of the campaign, trailing only Wyatt Johnston (21), Leon Draisaitl (15), Kirill Kaprizov (15), Pavel Dorofeyev (15) and Tomas Hertl (13) for the most among all NHL skaters. . . Kane and DeBrincat factored on the same goal for the 203rd time. The only U.S.-born teammates to factor on more goals together are Utah Mammoth forwards Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller (207)

Key Stats

The Red Wings were 1-for-5 on the power play. . . James van Riemsdyk played 9:15 minutes, Michael Rasmussen was at 7:43 and Dominik Shine was at 4:27 as coach Todd McLellan shortened his bench to push for a tying goal. . . Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat were both minus-2.

Key Moment

Defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker was in the penalty box for hooking, on a carry-over penalty, at the start of the third period when Tkachuk scored the winning power play goal

Up Next

The Red Wings start a four-game home trip Sunday in New Jersey. They also play Florida, Tampa Bay and Dallas on the trip.