Puck Drop: 7:30 PM EST
Place: FLA Live Arena – Sunrise, FL
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Panthers’ SB Nation Site: Litter Box Cats
The Wings are coming off a big win over a good team from the Sunshine State. Now, in the words of that Evil Goofy meme, can they f***ing do it again?
They’ll take on a Panthers team that seems to be having trouble re-capturing last year’s magic (replacing your Jack Adams-nominated interim coach with human participation trophy Paul Maurice will do that.) Prized offseason pickup Matthew Tkachuk has been as good as advertised, and the rest of the usual suspects have put up decent numbers. And yet, they still look a step behind where they were last year, especially in the defensive end of the ice.
For the Red Wings, this may end up being a carbon copy of Tuesday’s Lightning game; a contest where we’ll have to park the bus against a heavy onslaught of scoring chances, but a contest that’ll feature some juicy opportunities for the Red Wings to counterpunch.
And if nothing else, it’s a chance to continue the old Red Wings’ tradition of ruining the hopes and dreams of a Tkachuk.