Red Wings vs Panthers: Gameday Updates, line combinations, key match-ups

J.J. FromKansas

• 2 min read Front Page

First things first:

Yeah, that's the good stuff. Keep it coming...

No, that's not.... no.

Without more info from the diggers, I'm kind of guessing at the pairings. I wouldn't be surprised to see Smith-Marchenko as a group and then Ericsson-Kindl, but I'm not entirely sure about that. If we get more updates, we'll be sure to send 'em your way.


Line Combinations

Red Wings Lineup

Forwards

Henrik Zetterberg Pavel Datsyuk Justin Abdelkader
Darren Helm Brad Richards Dylan Larkin
Gus Nyquist Andreas Athanasiou Tomas Tatar
Luke Glendening Riley Sheahan Tomas Jurco

Defensemen

Kyle Quincey Danny DeKeyser
Brendan Smith Jakub Kindl
Jonathan Ericsson Alexey Marchenko

Goaltenders

Petr Mrazek
Jimmy Howard

Scratches: Teemu Pulkkinen, Joakim Andersson

Injuries: Johan Franzen (super-long), Drew Miller (pretty long), Niklas Kronwall (kinda long), Mike Green (day-to-day)

Power-play units:

  1. Larkin-Zetterberg-Nyquist-Abdelkader (net front)-DeKeyser
  2. Tatar-Datsyuk-Helm (net front)-Richards-Smith

Panthers Lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau Aleksander Barkov Jaromir Jagr
Jussi Jokinen Vincent Trocheck Reilly Smith
Brandon Pirri Nick Bjugstad Logan Shaw
Quinton Howden Derek MacKenzie Corban Knight

Defensemen

Dmitry Kulikov Aaron Ekblad
Brian Campbell Alex Petrovic
Steve Kampfer Brent Regner

Goaltenders

Roberto Luongo
Al Montoya

Eric Gudbrandson didn't play the Panthers' last game with an upper-body injury. He's considered a gametime decision right now

Fun Facts!

Red Wings all-time record against Florida: 17-6-5-6 (W-L-T-OTL)

Taco cat spelled backwards is "taco cat"

Horseshoe crabs have blue blood, making them the royalty of bottom-dwelling mudsuckers

Key Matchups

Red Wings versus Bad Red Wings

I don't want to take credit away from the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers and their run of wins that are either a little bit luckier than they should be or are created by a magic elixir that no other hockey team has been able to legitimately sustain for too long, but the last soul-crushing loss to the Panthers came with the Wings playing back-to-back. This is what they like to call a "statement game."

Jonathan Ericsson versus Jaromir Jagr

I know it's terrifying, but Ericsson has been known to occasionally rise to such matchups. Being the biggest guy on the Wings' blueline trying to contain a big powerful forward is supposed to be Ericsson's bailiwick. Riggy has to keep him away from the dangerous areas of the ice and he has to anchor the PK better than last time. It's a big challenge for a big guy.

LGRW