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It feels really awkward to have a home-and-home with the Panthers. Granted, it’s only a home-and-home on our end because the Panthers played Chicago on Sunday, but at least maybe we can finally make “three games in four nights” work in our favor tonight.
Red Wings
- Seems a lot of Red Wings know about Florida weather.
Henrik Zetterberg wasn’t on #RedWings plane to FLA, came down unexpectedly. Said he missed the guys. Also said he looked at forecast.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 10, 2013
And:Asked Darren Helm if decision to go to Florida even though he won’t play has to do with location?: “The sun & heat definitely are a factor.”
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 9, 2013
- Speaking of injured players, there’s no timetable for Zetterberg’s return from a herniated disc.
- Darren Helm, on the other hand, will probably be back before Christmas from
an upper-body injurya shoulder injury. - As mentioned in the Morning Skate, Jimmy Howard gets the start tonight.
- Oh yeah, and some Russian dude is apparently playing again tonight after missing the last seven games with a concussion. Now we won’t be able to get the Swedish Five out on the ice. I hope he doesn’t screw up the Red Wings’ 5-2 record we had with him out of the lineup.
Just kidding. We love you, Pav.
- For all my bemoaning the Red Wings’ second period play this season, the new period to cry about is the third. The Red Wings are +10 (28-18) in goal differential in the first, +3 (27-24) in the second, and -4 (29-33) in the third.
Panthers
- The Panthers went to Chicago on Sunday after winning in Detroit on Saturday, and they promptly got demolished 6-2 by the defending champs.
- If the Panthers are going to be in the Atlantic division with a bunch of the former Northeast teams, they might as well petition to move to the Western Conference. Florida’s record vs. East: 3-10-2; vs. West: 6-7-3.
- BOLD! Prediction failure Tim Thomas gets the start tonight. Looks like he won’t be leading the Panthers to the playoffs after all.
- Panthers’ projected lines:
FORWARDS Jonathan Huberdeau Nick Bjugstad Scottie Upshall Jimmy Hayes Aleksander Barkov Sean Bergenheim Tomas Kopecky Marcel Goc Tomas Fleischmann Brad Boyes Shawn Matthias Jesse Winchester DEFENSE Brian Campbell Tom Gilbert Erik Gudbranson Dylan Olsen Dmitry Kulikov Mike Weaver GOALTENDING Tim Thomas Scott Clemmensen
Stephen Weiss, who played 10 seasons (11, if you count the first year where he played 7 games) with the Panthers, will be receiving a video tribute from the Panthers during the first TV timeout tonight. For a franchise that hasn’t had very much on-ice success, I think this is an apt gesture to make for a player who spent a lot of time there, was a great player for them, and helped lead the team back to the playoffs after a decade of missing them. Not too extreme, but also not given the afterthought treatment.
Datsyuk’s back in the lineup. As chicagowingsfreak! always says, it’s time to . . .
GET HUNGRY! LET’S GO RED WINGS!!!
