Time: 7:00pm ET
Place: BB&T Center
TV: FSD, FSFL
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket, 1270 AM
Panthers blog: Litter Box Cats
Red Wings are on the second half of a back-to-back after winning in Carolina last night, and are on a stretch where we will see a lot of time on the road to balance out the amount of home games we had the first half of the season.
The Panthers are returning home after winning in Buffalo, the poor Sabres were booed off the ice after a dismal first period but did manage to show some life in the second and third. I hope Rasmus Dahlin has a snow shovel, a warm coat, and thick skin (kidding…probably).
Wings and Panthers are fighting for 4th in the Atlantic, but don’t worry both of us are 15+ points out of 3rd. Three Panthers players to watch for are Vincent Trocheck (18G, 29A), Jonathan Huberdeau (17G, 32A), and Aleksander Barkov (15G, 29A). If we shut them down we’ll be in good shape.
Rollie Pollie Goalies
Panthers have won their last two games with a lot of help from 28-year-old rookie goaltender Harri Sateri. Both Luongo and Reimer are on IR, so Sateri should be getting another start as neither of those two will be ready to go tonight. The Panthers have used five different goalies this season, and may even make it six if they give Samuel Montembeault his NHL debut this season.
We will see who gets the nod for us tonight, but this new Mrazek is doing a great job. Sometimes recasting a main character mid-season does work out. Or is it that the original Mrazek came back? In any case, he’s held the starting job as the “hot goalie” for a while.
Now, I’m not saying Mrazek is being showcased for a trade, but it is convenient timing that he caught fire right now.
Are you not somewhat to mostly entertained?
Last night showed a solid effort, that got better as the game went along, culminating in a Helm breakaway goal (I KNOW, RIGHT?). It’s always great to see the Wings smash the gas pedal in the last few minutes of the game, they learned their lesson with the Sharks. Although if they hadn’t blown that game we wouldn’t have seen Tatar sling filth with that shootout goal.
But no matter what the Wings are doing, Mickey seems determined to have a great time for a full 60 minutes and then some, and we should all be so motivated.
Let’s Go Red Wings!
Red Wings Line-Up
Forwards
Nyquist – Zetterberg – Mantha
Bertuzzi – Larkin – Athanasiou
Tatar – Nielsen – Helm
Abdelkader – Glendening – Frk
Defensemen
Ericsson – Daley
Kronwall – Green
DeKeyser – Jensen
Goalies
Howard
Mrazek
Panthers Line-Up
Forwards
Dadonov – Barkov – Bjugstad
Huberdeau – Trocheck – Malgin
Mamin – McCann – Brickley
Haley – MacKenzie – Sceviour
Defensemen
Ekblad – Yandle
Matheson – Pysyk
Weegar – Petrovic
Goalies
Sateri
Montembault
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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.
First off, if you don’t have an SBN Username, make one! We’d love to have you, plus it’s much easier to track your predictions season-long. Then make your guess on the winning team, final score, and who the Red Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated. 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. Only one submission per person, please. The Red Wings 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 3 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct, you’ll receive 15 points.
Good luck!
