5:00p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: FSD+
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM CBS Sports Radio
Panthers Blog: Litter Box Cats
Well last night wasn’t fun. I don’t want to say I warned you, but the Wings seemed to take the advice from yesterday’s preview posts and then do the exact opposite of those things. Despite the score, it looked like an unfortunately-typical game against the Bruins. But it’s a new day, a new opponent, a new two points up for grabs. Let’s get ‘em.
Quick turnaround for the Wings as we’ve got an early start to the game tonight. Fortunately, the Panthers also played yesterday, so they’re basically coming into Detroit just as game-tired but also with having traveled overnight. Like the Bruins, Florida is coming in on a three-game losing streak. They’ll be hoping to cat-scratch some points out of their current road trip.
The biggest story out of the Panthers roster so far this season is the unexpected emergence of Jonathan Marchessault, who’s on a cheap deal and tied for third in the league in points. He’s got five goals and five assists already, so the Wings would do well to not add to his newfound legacy.
Reilly “Brother of Brendan” Smith hasn’t been so hot this year, and nor has the ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr, who I swear has been getting more attention for simply being old rather than anything in particular he’s done. They’ve got only two goals between them in eight games, so now that I’ve gone and said all that, expect them to score all the goals for the Panthers tonight.
Roberto Luongo was in goal last night for Florida, so expect to see former much-maligned Maple Leaf James Reimer in net tonight. He’s only played in two games so far this season, a loss in regulation and then in the shootout, with three goals against in each contest. I actually really like Reimer and feel bad for all the Toronto garbage he had to deal with, but tonight I want to see pucks upon pucks behind him.
Petr Mrazek will draw in for the Wings tonight after another stellar goaltending performance by Jimmy Howard last night. Let’s hope Detroit found and disposed of the imposters that were on the ice against Boston, because it was pretty obvious they were lizard people or something.
No other changes expected with the back-to-back tonight.
Red Wings Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Dylan Larkin | Frans Nielsen | Gustav Nyquist |
| Tomas Tatar | Henrik Zetterberg | Riley Sheahan |
| Andreas Athanasiou | Darren Helm | Justin Abdelkader |
| Steve Ott | Luke Glendening | Drew Miller |
Defensemen
| Danny DeKeyser | Mike Green |
| Brendan Smith | Ryan Sproul |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Alexey Marchenko |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Xavier Ouellet
Injuries: Thomas Vanek (mid-lower body injury, day-to-day), Tomas Jurco (back), Niklas Kronwall (knee), Johan Franzen (post-concussion syndrome), Joe Vitale (post-concussion syndrome)
Panthers Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Jonathan Marchessault | Aleksander Barkov | Jaromir Jagr |
| Colton Sceviour | Vincent Trocheck | Reilly Smith |
| Jared McCann | Denis Malgin | Shane Harper |
| Derek MacKenzie | Greg McKegg | Shawn Thornton |
Defensemen
| Keith Yandle | Aaron Ekblad |
| Michael Matheson | Jason Demers |
| Mark Pysyk | Alex Petrovic |
Goaltenders
| James Reimer (starting) |
| Roberto Luongo |
| PANTHERS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 3-4-1 (7 pts; 6th in Atlantic) | Record | 6-3-0 (12 pts; 2nd in Atlantic) |
| 2.50 (21st in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.78 (13th in NHL) |
| 2.50 (10th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.11 (3rd) |
| 13.8% (24th) | Power Play % | 16.7% (18th) |
| 78.9% (17th) | Penalty Kill % | 82.3% (14th) |
| Jonathan Marchessault (5 goals) | Goals Leader | Darren Helm, Thomas Vanek (4 goals) |
| Jonathan Marchessault (10 points) | Points Leader | Gustav Nyquist, Thomas Vanek (8 points) |
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.
