Florida has gone 2-0-1 against Detroit so far this season
The Florida Panthers will face another tough challenge on Saturday as they continue working to snap back into form ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Florida enters the weekend having lost six of its past seven games, falling behind the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division by two points, though the Panthers do have a game in hand.
Now the Cats will welcome a Detroit Red Wings squad to Sunrise that is desperately trying to claim the final Wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
A month ago, the Red Wings looked like they were going to run away with a playoff spot. They were 33-20-6 after winning six straight games in late February, holding the top Wildcard spot and an eight-point edge on New Jersey, who at the time was the first time out of a playoff position.
Since then, Detroit has gone just 3-10-1 and are now on the outside of the Wildcard race looking in.
They’re dropped the first three of their current five-game road trip that ends on Monday night in Tampa, scoring three total goals while getting shutout twice.
Saturday’s game will be the fourth and final meeting between the Panthers and Red Wings this season.
Florida is 2-0-1 against the Wings this year, with the two wins coming by way of a Sergei Bobrovsky shutouts, and both on the road at Little Caesars Arena.
It’s a trend the Panthers will be looking to continue as the Cats hope to get back in the win column for just the second time in as many weeks.
The return of Aaron Ekblad to Florida’s lineup on Thursday meant the Panthers no longer had any players on the injured list.
Expect the full-strength Cats to roll with Bobrovsky between the pipes after giving the starting netminder Thursday’s game off.
In addition to his strong numbers against Detroit this season, Bobrovsky has done quite well when facing the spoked wheel during his career, earning a 26-6-2 record against the Red Wings to go with a 1.80 goals against average and .938 save percentage.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s afternoon battle with the Wings:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Vladimir Tarasenko
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Nick Cousins – Steven Lorentz – Kevin Stenlund
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
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