Time: 7:00pm ET
Place: Little Caesar’s Arena
TV: BSDETX, BSFL
Radio: WXYT-FM 97.1, WQAM
Panthers blog: Litter Box Cats
Wings and Panthers are part of the Divison pileup around 4th place. We’ve been helped by our 7 overtime loser points, more than anyone else in the Atlantic. Lately, we’ve been trying to play spoiler with come-from-behind victories, getting mixed results. For example, our last game losing 5-1 to New Jersey was not a great execution of that strategy.
Speaking of losing 5-1, the last time we played the Panthers was a month ago when we lost 5-1. The Panthers are coming to Hockeytown off a 5-3 win over the Coyotes on Tuesday. Who do we need to watch out for? M. Tkachuk and Verhaeghe are their top goal scorers with Barkov, Montour, Reinhart having a notable impact on the powerplay as well. And, of course, you always need to watch out for Gudas and be ready to activate the Goon Squad when he and/or Tkachuk start acting up.
Speaking of special teams, the Wings have a slight edge on special teams compared to the Panthers and the Panthers have a bad habit of ending up in the Bad Boy Box. Our worst offender is Chiarot, and the Panthers have 6 players with more PIM than him. In fact, the Panthers have 475 PIM, the third most in the NHL. Compare that to the Wings 278 PIM, the third least in the NHL. For as much bellyaching as we fans do about the officiating, we are firmly in the Good Boy Club.
Check back later for updates on the lineups, yesterday it was suggested Husso is in net and Fabbri would be in tonight and out tomorrow. We’ll see…
