The Breakdown: Playing 1,000th NHL Game, Perron Scores For Red Wings in Dallas

On the surface, the latest Detroit Red Wings setback felt painful. A hard-fought game Saturday afternoon at Dallas saw Detroit fall 3-2 when Stars defenseman Nils Lundkvist scored in the final minute of overtime.

For the 10th straight time, the Wings dropped a game at Dallas. Over that span, the Red Wings have been outscored 42-18.

However, this loss enabled Detroit to complete a four-game road trip featuring contests against three elite NHL teams with a 2-1-1 record. There aren’t many clubs that would be coming home unhappy from such a journey.

“Really good trip,” Red Wings forward David Perron told Bally Sports Detroit. “Those are things you look at.”

The Wings won in Tampa Bay against the three-time reigning Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning. They took a point off the Stars, currently tied for the lead in the Central Division. The only loss was a 5-1 drubbing handed the Wings by the Florida Panthers, last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners.

“We probably had one of our tougher performances compete-wise in Florida,” Perron said. “We bounced back and had a good game. Didn’t get the result, but good trip overall.”

Red Wings Perron Hits Milestone

Playing his 1,000th NHL game, Perron scored to make it 2-2 in the final minute of the second period when he tipped a Ben Chiarot point shot past Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger.

“Just a lucky bounce,” Perron said. “I’m going to the net, I’m not trying to do anything. I feel it go off my stick and in the net somehow.”

Dylan Larkin gave Detroit a 1-0 lead in the first period. Despite the loss, Perron felt that the focus should be on the overall output from the four-game trek.

“I thought we competed really good as a group,” Perron said. “Five on five, we’re a really good team. We’re gonna start expecting more and more out of ourselves the more we perform like this.”

Facts And Observations

1. Perron joined Patrice Bergeron, Josh Bailey, Evgeni Malkin, Brent Burns and Jeff Carter as active players who scored in their 1,000th NHL game
2. Perron is the fourth NHLer to hit the 1,000-game plateau this season, following Patrick Kane, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds
3. Larkin opened the scoring for the fifth game this season. Only John Tavares (six) of the Toronto Maple Leafs have done so more often during the 2022-23 campaign
4. Perron has collected 13 points in his last 13 games (4-9-13)
5. The Red Wings haven’t lost back-to-back games in regulation since Nov. 10-12 (8-2 to New York Rangers; 4-3 at Los Angeles Kings)