Alex DeBrincat earned every bit of the respect he's getting. A 5-foot-8, 177-pound scoring winger squaring off with a 6-foot-1, 195-pound agitator like Sam Bennett is the oldest currency in hockey, and DeBrincat held his own in front of the penalty boxes. Nobody in a dressing room forgets that. Credit him.
It was also the wrong move, and it blew up in Detroit's face.
Bennett finished a check on Marco Kasper, the whistle blew about three seconds later, and DeBrincat was right there to talk about it. A linesman tried to keep them apart. It didn't hold. They squared off and threw haymakers 5:25 into the second period, with Detroit leading 3-1. Both got five for fighting. Bennett picked up an extra two for roughing, which handed the Red Wings a power play out of the whole thing.
RatingFor about seven minutes, it looked brilliant. Kasper, the guy Bennett hit, scored to make it 4-1. Detroit carried a 4-2 lead into the third. Then Florida scored four unanswered in the final 21 minutes, Anton Lundell potting his second of the night with 2:40 left, and the building that had been booing its own team turned into a party. Panthers 5, Red Wings 4. A three-goal lead, gone.
Detroit's best offensive player answered Florida's push with his fists, a guy the team just locked up on a seven-year extension worth more than $7.8 million a season. He traded punches with a legitimate heavyweight over a hit that wasn't even dirty enough to draw a penalty. DeBrincat finished the night with nothing on the scoresheet, 0-0-0. Detroit pays him to score goals. Five other players were on that bench if the message needed sending, and the coaching staff let the wrong man send it.
Fighting there risks exactly what happened: you poke the trailing team, somebody retaliates, and the desperate club gets a power play and a pulse. That's what followed. Florida was flat and getting booed in its own barn, down two, out of ideas. The fastest way to wake a team like that up is to give it something to rally around. Bennett's shift did that, whether he planned it or not.
DeBrincat has made this bet work before. When he fought Vancouver's Ian Cole in 2024, Detroit was down 3-1, scored three straight and won in overtime. Same spark, opposite result. This time the lead was his team's to protect, and the comeback belonged to Florida.
DeBrincat has a track record of this, going back further than one bad shift. He dropped Roman Josi in a quick scrap in December 2023, fought Cole, and said after a preseason tussle this year, "I just saw red... I probably shouldn't be fighting, but it is what it is." He knows the risk better than anyone, which is why this decision stings.
Florida improved to 11-7-2. Detroit's loss stretched its skid to five. Florida manufactured the emotion it badly needed. Detroit spent its star on a fight and watched a three-goal cushion evaporate. DeBrincat earned something real with his teammates. Florida earned the two points that count in the standings.
