7:30 PM ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket/1270 AM
Panthers Blog: Litter Box Cats
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. Last time we met the Panthers was just a few short days ago when the Wings, except Dylan Larkin, decided to take a snooze and fall apart in front of their moms. The Wings are coming off a dominant performance against the Islanders, which I’m desperately hoping was not a fluke. The good news is, the Panthers will be tired after playing in the Super Bowl.
Overall record:
17-6-5-6 (W-L-T-OL)
The good moment:
On February 18, 2011 the Red Wings and Panthers clashed and do you remember who was in net for Detroit? JOEY MACDONALD. Your goal scorers were Pavel Datsyuk, Todd Bertuzzi (x2), and Dan Cleary! Stephen Weiss had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, you may remember him as the pile of man shaped bone fragments who briefly wore a Red Wings jersey. Naturally, the Red Wings would blow a third period lead but in this case they fought back to win the game.
The bad moment:
TOO SOON.
Know the enemy:
NHL All Star and Civil War veteran, Jaromir Jagr, leads the Panthers offense and racked up a goal and two assists in his last game against the Wings. Florida’s goaltending has been stellar this season, so we need to put a lot of pucks on net and aggressively pursue any rebounds. The Panthers powerplay has had success against us despite being bad in general, so we need to tighten up the PK.
The Coaching match-up:
Jeff Blashill will be facing Gerard Gallant, you know, the guy who looks like your uncle who gets in fights with the umpire at your peewee baseball game and yells at you for not showing enough GRIT. Coach fact: Gallant was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1981 NHL Entry draft and spent quite a bit of time on the top line alongside The Captain.
Closing thoughts:
Any day now the Panthers will remember they are the Panthers and start playing terrible, and I will still be saying this while watching them lift the Cup. I don’t even know what to say about the Red Wings, I had a whole doom and gloom theme prepared but they won big on Saturday, so what now? Do the Wings keep heating up or is it back to the business of losing? Let us know your predictions!
LET’S GO RED WINGS!
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Game Day Prediction Contest
Would you like to predict the outcome of the game and potentially become internet famous? Well you’re in luck, because here’s your opportunity. Here’s how it works.
Make your game predictions on the winning team, final score, and who the Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated in the questions. If you don’t use those formats, your answers will be disregarded. All submissions are timestamped and will be accepted only until the official game start time. All other submissions after that will be disregarded. Only one submission per person, please. POTG will be determined by the collective of WiiM writers.
Each correct winning team prediction is worth 1 point. Each correct player of the game prediction is worth 2 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct you’ll receive 15 points.
