DETROIT — It was no secret how tough the Detroit Red Wings’ schedule would be to begin this season.
Their first six games all come against playoff teams from last season, including both 2025 conference champions and five games within the division. There would be no wading in, especially after dropping their opener to the Montreal Canadiens.
But after a 4-1 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Wednesday, Detroit has now won three straight of those early tests — with a perhaps unlikely hero in the last two.
Here’s what stood out.
1. From the minute the Red Wings signed him this offseason, Mason Appleton’s role has seemed like one of the easiest to project on the roster.
The 29-year-old forward is a smart, high-motor player perfectly suited to an energy role in the bottom six, and that’s exactly where he began the season.
But when star forward Lucas Raymond went down midway through Detroit’s Monday game in Toronto, it was Appleton who got the bump up to Raymond’s place on the first line — and he responded by scoring the game winner.
Two days later, against Florida, Appleton picked up right where he left off. Early in the second period, after Dylan Larkin forced an offensive zone turnover, Appleton found just enough space in the right circle to get a pass from Larkin and wire it past Sergei Bobrovsky for his second goal in as many days. Then, in the third, with Detroit protecting a 2-1 lead, he put one into the empty net to all but ice the game.
Appleton is an eighth-year NHL veteran who played on last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winner in Winnipeg, and his arrival went fairly under the radar when he signed — as most role players’ are. But he’s been as big a part of Detroit’s early win streak as anyone, even beyond those key, timely goals.
“You can tell he’s been able to play around a team that’s won a lot,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “He gets the game. He knows when he should be pulling out, he knows when he should be diving in. His game management skills are pretty good. That’s why we felt comfortable putting him up there. We’ve heard that he can go up and pinch hit and do a real good job. We’ve seen that for two games now.”
2. Certainly, Appleton is a very different style of player from the one he’s replacing in Raymond.
Raymond is one of Detroit’s best individual creators, a highly skilled player who can go east-west every bit as well as north-south. He’s one of the key cogs on the Red Wings’ power play, and a functionally irreplaceable five-on-five scorer for them.
So, how is Appleton — still a very intelligent player, more of a speedy, north-south energy type, by nature — managing to replace him? By not changing a thing in the way he plays, despite a very different role at the top of the lineup.
“I just try to play my game and then have it affect (linemates Larkin and Emmitt Finnie) in that aspect,” Appleton said. “Where, (I’m) just hard on pucks, make simple plays, play fast, get on the forecheck, defend hard. Just be predictable to them, so they know what I’m going to bring, and then they can kind of read off that and feed off that.”
That certainly sums up Appleton’s first goal, where, after helping Larkin pressure Panthers defender Jeff Petry, he made a tight turn right into an easy passing lane for Larkin to find him.
Mason Appleton finds the back of the net! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/62DZx2eTEx
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 16, 2025
“He’s brought straight lines, and he’s scored two big goals and being in the right places at the right time,” Larkin said. “That’s something I’ve noticed with playing with him. He’s seemed to be able to skate, and I’ve really enjoyed playing with him.”
McLellan’s “pinch hit” comment captured the dynamic well, as Appleton isn’t going to stay in a top-line role all year. But with Raymond out short-term with an upper-body injury, he stepped up to meet the moment for the Red Wings in each of the last two games.
3. And speaking of unlikely heroics, how about the Red Wings’ penalty kill four games into this season? After two big kills against the Panthers on Wednesday, the unit is clicking along at an 88.9 percent success rate.
It’s still too early to focus much on bottom-line numbers, mind you, with the sample far too small to derive much meaning. But still, Detroit’s process has been good on that unit, which was one of its biggest weaknesses a year ago.
So far, it’s looked like its emphasis on improving it has paid off.
“I think the tweaks to be a little bit more aggressive have helped,” Larkin said. “And with that, we’ve really tried to focus on — especially the group up front — to be out there 20, 25 seconds and get off. Just play to get that clear, and get off, and that’s kind of a good way to break up the two minutes: take care of your 20 seconds, and then hand it off to the next guy and just roll it over.”
That would also fall within one of McLellan’s broader emphases this season, too, improving Detroit’s game management — something he’s hammered over and over already early this season. And perhaps that is one reason the penalty kill has been able to succeed so far, with fresher legs (and minds) out there in such high-leverage situations.
“We’ve been building a lot of confidence, too,” Appleton said. “You give up a couple, say, early in the season, you can’t feel good, you know? And then your mindset shifts a little bit. But when you’re building and you’re getting kills, you stay aggressive. You don’t think as much; you just make the simple reads, and your sticks and bodies are in the right spot. And you get the clears, and you get the blocks. And tonight we got a couple huge blocks there, and a couple big clears, and we did our job.”
4. Technically, Detroit’s PK will only go down in the record book at 2-for-2 Wednesday. But the Red Wings also had to close out a six-on-five to end the game, with Florida’s goalie pulled, and they managed to do that, too.
They’re not completely alike situations, with six-on-five being more crowded and, of course, offering the allure of the empty net to shoot at (which Detroit took advantage of for two insurance goals). But it nonetheless was a credit to Detroit to survive those minutes — though Florida also was able to keep some possessions alive for second looks. It’s of course easier said than done to clear pucks in those late-game scenarios, but it’s something to watch from the Red Wings, who have had a mixed bag with it so far.
That being said, they did survive it, and their defensive coverage deserves a lot of credit for not letting Florida’s late pressure turn into Grade-A chances to tie the score.
“Some poise, some smart plays, some good body position on loose, scramble-y type pucks,” McLellan said. “We didn’t cheat on the offensive side or go fishing. We were heavy. So I thought we played it well.”
Throw in another strong effort from Cam Talbot — who stopped 20 of 21 in goal, after a monster game in Toronto on Monday — and Detroit’s overall team defense was key to winning this one.
5. Detroit’s big guns still were a big factor in the game Wednesday. Larkin assisted on both of the team’s first two goals, the second of which was a beauty by Patrick Kane on a five-on-three, and Alex DeBrincat picked up two more assists — bringing his early-season total to six through four games. Top defenseman Moritz Seider grabbed an assist as well on the Kane goal.
But between Appleton’s goals, a 2-point night for Michael Rasmussen on the two empty net goals, the penalty kill, Talbot, and plenty of subtle team-defense moments — led by 22 blocked shots, compared with just nine for Florida — the story of the night Wednesday was all the ways Detroit found contributions from outside the spotlight to get the job done.
“That’s the league,” Appleton said. “It’s not the NBA where a superstar can kind of take over a game. … It doesn’t happen in the NHL. It’s 12 forwards, six defense and a goalie. So, it’s just kind of — you’ve got to be a well-oiled machine in that aspect. You need four lines going, and you need your three D pairs going.
“Different lines have won different games for us, and that goes to show the caliber of guys we’ve got in this room.”
It’s probably too early to be declaring these Red Wings a well-oiled machine, but Appleton’s right in that that’s what Detroit will have to build toward to succeed.
And after their third straight win over a divisional opponent, they’ve gotten out to just the kind of start they needed.
