7:30p ET, BB&T Center
Sunrise, FL
TV: FSDT
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Panthers Blog: Litter Box Cats
Gooooooooooood morning Red Wings Nation! We’re back in action tonight against a team who is very much still in the hunt for playoff contention, the Florida Panthers.
Detroit had a great bounce-back win against the Penguins after being shelled by the Flyers. Prior to Pittsburgh, captain Henrik Zetterberg called a team meeting, in which they got down to the nitty-gritty and said “enough is enough.” I hope that Hank’s meeting with his team resounded throughout the ranks, and actually drove home a message, because the Wings have other teams creeping up in the standings behind them.
Tonight is going to be a fun game to watch, mainly the second line match-up. The speed and skill of both sides is uncanny, Tatar-Sheahan-Helm vs Huberdeau-Barkov-Jagr is going to be a real doozie, I think.
I was under the impression that Roberto Luongo would be out tonight, but Florida beat-writers have confirmed that he will indeed be starting tonight. His first start in quite some time. Petr Mrazek is coming off an extremely impressive game, where he nearly blanked the Penguins. I like the match up here, let’s get two points because more points more fun.
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Justin Abdelkader | Henrik Zetterberg | Erik Cole |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Darren Helm |
| Gustav Nyquist | Luke Glendening | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Drew Miller | Joakim Andersson | Tomas Jurco |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Brendan Smith | Marek Zidlicky |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Daniel Cleary, Jakub Kindl, & Stephen Weiss
Injuries: Johan Franzen (concussion), Jonas Gustavsson (concussion), Pavel Datsyuk (lower-body)
Forwards
| Brandon Pirri | Nick Bjugstad | Brad Boyes |
| Jonathan Huberdeau | Aleksander Barkov | Jaromir Jagr |
| Jussi Jokinen | Dave Bolland | Jimmy Hayes |
| Derek MacKenzie | Vincent Trocheck | Scottie Upshall |
Defensemen
| Brian Campbell | Aaron Ekblad |
| Willie Mitchell | Erik Gudbranson |
| Dmitry Kulikov | Steve Kampfer |
Goaltenders
| Roberto Luongo (Starting) |
| Dan Ellis |
| PANTHERS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 31-25-14 (76 pts; 6th in Atlantic) | Record | 38-19-11 (87 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 2.36 (25th NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.90 (6th in NHL) |
| 2.64 (17th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.56 (15th) |
| 15.5% (27th) | Power Play % | 25.3% (2nd) |
| 80.5% (22nd) | Penalty Kill % | 81.0% (17th) |
| Nick Bjugstad (24 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (25 goals) |
| Nick Bjugstad (43 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (59 points) |
- The Red Wings are 17-4-5-5 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Florida Panthers./
- Last 10 Games: Detroit 5-5-0, Florida 5-4-1
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- Erik Cole has 42 points (20 goals, 22 assists) in 54 career games against Florida./
LGRW
