DETROIT _ After two clunker losses to the lowly Maple Leafs and Sabres, Panthers coach Gerard Gallant, who's known for his even-keeled style, issued a couple of out-of-character ultimatums to his players via a pregame media session in the corridors of Joe Louis Arena.
"We got to start playing better hockey; we got to manage the puck better, and got to make the same effort on the road as we do at home," Gallant said. "We BETTER make sure we do that today."
Then when asked if injecting 10 new players into the lineup was a reason for losing five of six, and an 0-3-1 road mark, Gallant kind of agreed with a postcript.
"Yeah, but they better not take too long or we'll be out of the playoff picture," he bristled.
Point taken and two points taken as one of the new guys, Colton Sceviour, scored his first career hat trick, including two goals within 23 seconds of each other in the first period, to spark a desperately needed 5-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
Finally, the Panthers, who set a franchise mark with 22 road wins last season, notched their first road victory in five attempts (1-3-1), and backup goalie James Reimer (34 saves) picked up his first win in a Panthers' jersey (1-1-1).
So they flew home to South Florida for Halloween off with some needed self-respect after a 1-3 roadie while moving back to hockey's version of .500 (4-4-1).
The Panthers have owned Hockey Town for three seasons now, winning six of the last seven games at The Joe. Unfortunately, the Panthers have one game remaining in this legendary barn as Little Caesars Arena will open next season just a long-icing away downtown.
Sceviour, who was promoted from the third to second line with Vincent Trocheck and Reilly Smith in Saturday's 3-0 debacle, scored a power-play goal, an even-strength goal and a short-handed tally, giving him five goals. He added an assist, to double his career-best game with four points.
"Obviously, we weren't really happy with the way yesterday's game went," Scevious said between periods. "We had to simplify today, win battles and win races, get pucks to the net. That's what we did early on and we got rewarded for it."
Speaking of Little Caesars, Trocheck grew up in that nationally renowned program in Detroit, and he seems to save his best for the Red Wings. He fed Sceviour on a perfect backdoor pass for power-play goal at 6:09. He later scored and now has six goals and 10 points in nine games against Detroit.
Just 23 ticks later, Sceviour charged the net after a Keith Yandle slapper, and slickly kicked the puck onto his stick for a greasy goal in the crease. It's the second fastest two goals scored by a Panther, only eclipsed by Viktor Kozlov, who did it within seven seconds against Montreal on Feb. 10, 2004.
With 2:31 left in the period, Kyle Rau led a 3-on-2 rush before Denis Malgin spoon-fed Jonathan Marchessault _ who was late getting off the ice _ for a layup and a 3-0 lead after one.
So Marchessault, another newcomer, added a page to arguably the surprise story of the early NHL season with his sixth goal and 11th point, tying him for first and second in the league, respectively.
Second-year speedster Dylan Larkin ended Reimer's shutout bid with a power-play, one-timer at 17:29 of the second, but the Panthers responded as Sceviour and Trocheck broke in alone on Petr Mrazek before Trocheck rifled it home for his fourth red-lighter at 5:02.
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill yanked Mrazek, after he gave up four goals on just 10 shots, and replaced him with Jimmy Howard.
Five minutes later, skating short-handed with Aaron Ekblad in the box, Sceviour knocked in his own rebound for his first four-point game and the Panthers' first hat trick since Tomas Kopecky in 2013. It was the Panthers' second shorty of the season, both scored by Sceviour.
Reilly Smith's big brother Brendan, scored another PPG for Detroit with 9:17 left, but that was more for his personal stats than any threat of a comeback.
