SUNRISE, Fla. – Jonathan Marchessault is kind of like a human band-aid.

With the Florida Panthers hurting in the exhibition season -- losing top-six forwards Nick Bjugstad for one month and Jonathan Huberdeau for up to four months -- Marchessault has stopped the bleeding, figuratively speaking.

After producing just seven goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning last year, Marchessault has found himself on Florida's top line.

And on Saturday night, he had two assists and an empty-net goal to help the Panthers defeat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 at the BB&T Center.

"It's unfortunate we had injuries at the beginning of the year," said the 25-year-old Marchessault, who signed a two-year free-agent deal with Florida on July 1. "But I think our team has a lot of character. We're doing a good job of getting early wins."

Indeed, the Panthers (2-0-0) have allowed a combined total of just two goals so far, a testament to the entire but also to goalie Roberto Luongo, 37, who had offseason hip surgery.

Luongo, who made 21 saves on Saturday, posted career win No. 438. He's in sole possession of sixth place on the NHL list, moving past Jacques Plante.

Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle, an offseason acquisition from the New York Rangers, said Luongo deserves most of the credit for the fact that Florida has allowed only the two goals.

"Playing against him, you know how good he is," Yandle said. "But playing with him, you realize how much he helps the D. He is fun to play in front of."

Darren Helm scored in the first period, but that was the only goal for Detroit (0-2-0).

Florida also got goals from Vincent Trocheck, who played youth hockey in Detroit, Colton Sceviour and Aleksander Barkov.

Panthers center Denis Malgin, a 19-year-old rookie, picked up his first career point with an assist on Sceviour's goal. Jaromir Jagr, who was honored by the Panthers with his bobblehead-doll night, added an assist on Barkov's goal.

The pivotal part of the game came when Florida defenseman Jason Demers was called for hooking with 5:23 left in the third period. That gave the Wings, who trailed 2-1 at the time, a chance on the power play.

However, the Panthers, who are 5 of 5 on the penalty kill so far this season, kept Detroit from scoring the tying goal.

Three minutes later, Barkov put the game away. Jagr set up the play on the right boards, tying up the puck as well as two Wings players. Marchessault then swooped in to retrieve the puck and passed to Barkov, who scored on his own rebound.

Trochek scored the game's first goal -- and it took just 70 seconds. Left winger Jussi Jokinen sprung Trocheck with a long pass and the former Motown resident caught a break when his wrap-around pass attempt bounced in off the skate of Wings center Dylan Larkin.

Florida made it 2-0 with 9:59 left in the first period. The wild sequence started when Luongo made a sparkling save on Riley Sheahan. Malgin cleared the puck and got it to Marchessault on the left wing. He fed to the right side to Sceviour, who scored on the breakaway.

"Malgin has been turning heads since training camp," Sceviour said of the rookie. "Coming in, I didn't know anything about him."

Detroit cut its deficit to 2-1 with 6:57 left in the first period. Panthers defenseman Jason Demers got taken off the puck behind his own net. Detroit right winger Gustav Nyquist pounced on the puck and fed it to an open Helm, who scored from the slot.

Although there were no goals in the second period, Florida dominated much of the action. Through two periods, Florida outshot Detroit 28-13.

"We spent most of the first and second periods not being the quickest to the puck," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "Their second guy beat our second guy to too many pucks."

Detroit left winger Justin Abdelkader said the Wings ran into two difficult Florida opponents to start the season, including Thursday's 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"It's not the trip we wanted," he said. "Those are two really good teams. Florida has a lot of speed. They are tough to play. In the neutral zone, they don't give you much space."

NOTES: Niklas Kronwall, Detroit's top defenseman, is out at least one more game because of a knee injury. ... Detroit LW Andreas Athanasiou, who was a healthy scratch in Thursday's season-opening loss, was moved all the way to the top line with C Henrik Zetterberg and RW Frans Nielsen. LW Steve Ott was made a healthy scratch in order to get Athanasiou in the lineup. ... Other scratches were Detroit D Ryan Sproul, Florida D Steven Kampfer and Floirda LW Shawn Thornton. ... All fans in attendance on Saturday received a Jaromir Jagr bobblehead -- complete with the Panthers star's famed mullet haircut. ... Panthers C Vincent Trocheck spent part of his youth in Detroit. He and his parents moved there when he was 13. ... Detroit will play its home opener on Monday against the Ottawa Senators. ... Florida is off until Tuesday when backup G James Reimer is expected to make his Panthers debut at Tampa Bay.