Red Wings 3, Panthers 1: Red-hot Gustav Nyquist scored the tiebreaking goal with just over 6 1/2 minutes left in the second period to lift visiting Detroit.

Daniel Alfredsson connected on the power play and defenseman Brian Lashoff added an empty-net tally as the Red Wings notched back-to-back regulation wins for the first time since Nov. 29-Dec. 1. Blue-liner Niklas Kronwall notched two assists and Jimmy Howard made 23 saves to improve to 3-0-1 in his last four appearances.

Scottie Upshall scored the only goal for Florida, which lost for the fourth time in five games (1-4-0). Tim Thomas made 30 saves but failed in his bid to win consecutive starts for the first time since Dec. 7-10.

Detroit dominated the opening period, but the Panthers got the lone goal when Upshall came out of the penalty box for a breakaway and beat Howard to the glove side at 19:34.

The Red Wings got the equalizer on the power play 6 1/2 minutes into the second period as Justin Abdelkader pounced on a rebound in front and poked a pass to Alfredsson for an easy conversion from the left of the net. Nyquist put Detroit ahead just under seven minutes later with an unassisted tally, his ninth goal in his last nine games.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Alfredsson moved into a tie with Nicklas Lidstrom for second place on the all-time list of Swedish-born players with 1,142 points. ... Panthers RW Tomas Kopecky collected the 100th assist of his career on Upshall's goal. ... Red Wings C Pavel Datsyuk returned from a 14-game injury absence and saw 13:34 of ice time.