Red Wings Game Preview: Detroit vs. Florida Panthers

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Where: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit

TV: Bally Sports Detroit Extra

Streaming: Fubo (free trial)

Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; Red Wings radio affiliates)

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Eyes on the ice: Here’s how to watch the Red Wings this season without Bally Sports Detroit.

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AT THE 10-SPOT: What we learned from first 10 games of Detroit Red Wings’ season: Nice start sustainable?

Red Wings center Dylan Larkin goes airborne as Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky makes a save during the third period of the Wings’ 3-2 loss to the Panthers on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, at Little Caesars Arena.

Game notes: If you thought Wings general manager Steve Yzerman had a good summer — landing Alex DeBrincat in a trade and arguably hitting on nearly all of his free-agent signings (though 10 games, at least) — you’ll love the Panthers’ post-April run. (Well, at least until the Stanley Cup Finals.) Yes, the Panthers, who didn’t lock up the eighth spot in the East playoffs until the final few days, went on a semi-magical run — as much as riding hot goalie Sergei Bobrovsky can be considered “magical,” taking the 35-year-old’s $70 million contract into account — to within three wins of the Cup, before the Vegas Golden Knights’ own magic took over.

After taking over in net from Alex Lyon — now the Wings’ third-stringer — in the first round against the Bruins, Bobrovsky posted a .915 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average while going 12-6. That was after his 24-20-3 regular season, with a .901 save percentage and 3.07 GAA, opened the crease for Lyon to begin with. This season, Bobrovsky has been closer to his playoff form — .903, 2.87 — than his regular-season marks; unfortunately for him, the Panthers’ offense is caught in a different type of magic trick, having mostly disappeared.

Florida is averaging just 2.75 goals per game this season, “good” for 24th in the 32-team league. That’s down from 2.95 (10th) in the playoffs and 3.51 in the 2022-23 season. We’re not looking to point fingers here, but Matthew Tkachuk — a 40-goal scorer last year — has just one tally in 2023-24, with six assists, while Carter Verhaeghe — the Panthers’ leading scorer last season at 42 goals — is on a 30-goal pace this campaign. If the Panthers want to compete in the Atlantic Division again this year, they’ll need Tkachuk and Verhaeghe to pull a few more rabbits — or plastic rats, or whatever the folks in South Florida celebrate goals with these days — out of their hats soon.

More bad news for the Panthers: Sam Bennett, who had 16 goals last season in 63 games, likely won’t play tonight, as he deals with a “lower-body injury” that left him unable to put any weight on his, ahem, left leg in Monday’s loss to Boston. “He’s not day-to-day. He’s going to be a little longer,” head coach Paul Maurice told reporters Wednesday. “We don’t think it’s as significant as the first one. Have to see how he feels. What happens in the first three days will tell us how long it’s going to be.”

At least Florida will have one reason to celebrate: Captain Aleksander Barkov is set to play his 672nd game with the franchise, passing longtime forward Jonathan Huberdeau for No. 1. (Hopefully, they won’t trade him to Calgary like they did Huberdeau in the deal that brought Tkachuk to Florida.) The 6-foot-3 Finland native has 14 goals and 28 assists in 38 career games against the Wings, part of his already-franchise-record 245 goals and 639 points.

The Wings, meanwhile, are riding a surgent offense — we’d say “resurgent,” but it’s been so long since they scored goals like this, we’re not sure we can remember the “re” era — that entered Wednesday second in the NHL in goals despite averaging just 2.5 over their 1-2-1 run that followed that five-game win streak. Eight different Wings have accounted for those 10 goals, with Joe Veleno and Lucas Raymond each potting a pair, and Moritz Seider leading in points, with five.

While we’re on the topic of hard-to-remember things, we’ll point out that the Wings haven’t beaten the Panthers in 2½ years; their most recent victory over the BeachCats came on Feb. 20, 2021, when Patrik Nemeth and Mathias Brome scored the Wings’ only goals — against Bobrovsky! — in a 2-1 victory at Little Caesars Arena. Since then, it has been nine straight losses for the Wings by a combined score of 40-15. Ouch.

After tonight’s game, the Wings get a rematch against the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners as the Bruins visit LCA on Saturday night. The Panthers, meanwhile, continue their Midwest road trip to Chicago, taking on Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks — which is almost a good name for a punk band — on Saturday night as well.

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Live updates:

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Contact Ryan Ford at [email protected]. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings game score vs. Florida Panthers: Time, TV channel

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