Red Wings beat Panthers 4-1 to send defending champs to second straight loss

DETROIT (AP) — Cam Talbot made 21 saves, Mason Appleton scored twice and the Detroit Red Wings beat Florida 4-1 on Wednesday night to send the defending champion Panthers to their second straight loss.

The injury-hit Panthers began the season with home victories over Chicago, Philadelphia and Ottawa, then lost at Philadelphia on Monday.

Detroit has won three in a row. The Red Wings opened with a home loss to Montreal, then swept a home-and-home series with Toronto.

Appleton opened the scoring at 2:09 of the second on a snap shot. Patrick Kane added a power-play goal at 9:36, firing a shot from right side to the near top corner. Appleton put it away into an empty net with 1:58 left, and Michael Rasmussen also had an empty-netter.

Brad Marchand scored on a wraparound for Florida with 5:55 left in the second. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots.

Before the game, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said defenseman Dmitry Kulikov had surgery and is expected to be sidelined about five months because of an upper-body injury,

Florida also is missing stars forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk. Barkov will be out at least seven months because of a knee injury. Tkachuk could return in December from a torn adductor muscle.

Kulikov was hurt Oct. 9 in a 2-1 home victory over Philadelphia. Uvis Balinskis took Kulikov’s spot in the lineup against Detroit. The Panthers recalled defenseman Tobias Bjornfot from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

Panthers: At New Jersey on Thursday night.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Detroit Red Wings center Mason Appleton (22) celebrates his goal against the Florida Panthers in the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Red Wings right wing Patrick Kane (88) celebrates his goal with Moritz Seider and James van Riemsdyk (21) against the Florida Panthers in the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Red Wings and Florida Panthers players clutch and grab each other in the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) deflects a Detroit Red Wings center Andrew Copp (18) shot in the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot (39) stops a Florida Panthers right wing Mackie Samoskevich (11) shot as Patrick Kane (88) defends in the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

COTONOU, Benin (AP) — A group of soldiers has appeared on Benin ’s state TV announcing the dissolution of the government in an apparent coup, the latest of many in West Africa.

The group, which called itself the Military Committee for Refoundation, on Sunday announced the removal of the president and all state institutions.

Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri has been appointed president of the military committee, the soldiers said.

Following its independence from France in 1960, the West African nation witnessed multiple coups, especially in the decades following its independence. Since 1991, the country has been politically stable following the two-decade rule of Mathieu Kérékou, a Marxist-Leninist who renamed the country the People’s Republic of Benin.

President Patrice Talon had been in power since 2016 and was due to step down next April after the presidential election.

Talon’s party pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, was the favorite to win the election. Opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was rejected by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have sufficient sponsors.

Last month, the country’s legislature extended the presidential term of office from five to seven years, keeping the term limit at two.

The coup is the latest in a string of military takeovers that have rocked West Africa. Last week, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election in which both he and the opposition candidate declared themselves winners.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria

FILE - Benin's President Patrice Talon attends a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)