2:00 PM ET, Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, Michigan

TV: Fox Sports Detroit

Radio: 971 The Ticket

Panthers Blog: Litter Box Cats

The Red Wings have points in all of their last six games. At times it's been frustrating, because they can't seem to protect a lead worth a damn, but you have to hand it to them for salvaging points that many times consecutively.

The Wings draw an Atlantic Division opponent tonight against the Florida Panthers. They're a team that seem to be underperforming over the last couple of seasons, but they always have Detroit's number. I like the matchup tonight. Both teams have a well-blended lineup of veterans and exciting young players. Jaromir Jagr is still playing like he's 10 years younger, and Aaron Ekblad (Windsor kid, his family will be in attendance, so he'll likely score) is one of the more exciting young defensemen in hockey right now.

In case you missed it, Tomas Jurco will be returning to the lineup tonight. We don't have word on who he will replace as of yet, but we'll update the post if it surfaces in a timely manner.

The biggest factor for Detroit, as I say in most games, has to be their slumping power-play. They just can't get it to connect like it was last season. It's also important that they don't sit back on a lead to then find themselves playing catch-up later on in the game. The Red Wings are very much trending in the right way currently, but they really need to work out a couple of vital kinks in the hose, if you will. Jeff Blashill continues to make adjustments that are helping the team, so tonight should be an exciting tilt.

Line Combinations

Red Wings Lineup

Forwards

Defensemen

Goaltenders

Scratches: Joakim Andersson, Teemu Pulkkinen, Brendan Smith

Injuries: Johan Franzen, Kyle Quincey

Power Play Units:

• Justin Abdelkader, Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist, Niklas Kronwall, Tomas Tatar
• Brad Richards, Pavel Datsyuk, Dylan Larkin, Teemu Pulkkinen, Mike Green

Panthers Lineup

Forwards

Defensemen

Goaltenders

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.