Panthers kick off 3-game road trip with divisional matchup in Detroit

The Florida Panthers are back on the road, and based on how things have gone for the Cats when away from home this season, in no way is that a bad thing.

Entering play Saturday, no team in the NHL has more road wins than Florida’s 20.

The Panthers are currently sitting atop the league standings with identical 20-8-2 records both at home and on the road. 

They'll have their work cut out for them, playing their second three-game-in-four-night roadie in the span of a few weeks.

The fun starts Saturday afternoon in Detroit before the Cats head to the metro New York area for a back-to-back set against the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.

To say the Panthers have owned the Red Wings over the past few seasons would probably be considered by the vast majority as a fair statement.

Since March 30, 2021, Florida has gone 11-0-1 when facing Detroit, and if we zoom out to December of 2018, the Cats hold a 20-2-1 record against the Wings that covers more than half a decade.

As it stands, Detroit is looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

They’re currently in sole possession of the second Wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of Tampa Bay with two games in hand.

Detroit has also won six of their past seven outings, backstopped by former Panthers goaltender Alex Lyon.

It will be Lyon between the pipes for the Red Wings on Saturday, and he’ll likely be facing Sergei Bobrovsky at the other end of the ice.

Bobrovsky is 8-1-0 over his past nine starts, surrendering two goals or less in each outing and earning a 1.65 goals against average and .945 save percentage during the stretch.

His 29 wins are third-most in the NHL, two behind Thatcher Demoko and Alexandar Georgiev, tied atop the list with 31 victories apiece.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Detroit:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Nick Cousins – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues

Jonah Gadjovich – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov

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