After a two-game road trip, the Florida Panthers (26-16-3) are back at Amerant Bank Arena to faceoff against the Detroit Red Wings (20-19-4) in the first of three meetings between the two Atlantic Division denizens that gets the nation treatment on ESPN.
Florida shook off Monday’s disappointing 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers by a posting a 2-1 shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils to avoid a season-series sweep against Sheldon Keefe’s charges. Jesper Boqvist matched his career-high by scoring his tenth goal early in third period and Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell converted in the skills competition. Spencer Knight had a stellar night between the pipes to collect his eighth win.
While the Cats were beating the Devils, the Red Wings saw their season-high, seven-game winning streak come to end in a 6-3 loss on home ice to the lowly San Jose Sharks. Former Panther Vladimir Tarasenko ended an 18-game scoreless drought with two goals and Lucas Raymond also lit the lamp. It was just Detroit’s second loss under new head coach Todd McLellan, who came aboard on Boxing Day.
- WHEN: 7 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: ESPN
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 FM (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #LGRW, #DETvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Winging It In Motown
- SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 3
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 3, DET 2 (SO) – (Recap) 3/30/2024
- NEXT MEETING: April 6, 2025
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (18-10-2 .899 / 2.78 1SO) Detroit: Talbot (10-9-2 .903 / 2.98 1SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Detroit
Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- New Jersey (26-15-5P 57) at TORONTO (27-14-2 56P) 7 p.m.
- Washington (29-10-5 63P) at OTTAWA (22-18-3 47P) 7 p.m.
- Anaheim (18-21-5 41P) at TAMPA BAY (23-16-3 49P) 7 p.m.
- MONTREAL (21-18-4 46P) at Dallas (26-13-1 53P) 8 p.m.
Idle: BOS (49P), BUF (39P)