Preview: Detroit Red Wings vs. Florida Panthers

The Detroit Red Wings will complete their road trip to Florida tonight with a game against the Panthers.  In October, Florida won the first game of the season series 3-2.  The Panthers are on a one game winning streak and are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games.

Game time tonight is 6:00 PM ET at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, FL.

https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/1500157057449738243?s=20&t=l33eeWpmLNOrWt8mes-OTg

Players Focus: Carter Verhaeghe (LW, Florida)

Carter Verhaeghe is in his 2nd season in Florida and 3rd season in the NHL.  He is a former student of mine and played his junior hockey for the Niagara IceDogs in the OHL.

Verhaeghe is having an excellent season playing LW on the top line with Aleksander Barkov and Mason Marchment.  In 53 games, Verhaeghe has 16 goals, 24 assists, 40 points, and a +15 rating.

Verhaeghe is in the last year of his contract that pays him $1M a season.  He has already signed a three-year extension that begins next year that will have a cap hit of $4,166,667 annually.

Red Wings Notes

• Detroit are currently 5th in the Atlantic Division with a 24-24-6 record
• The Red Wings are currently 26th in PP (16.7%) and 29th in PK (74.7%)
• Dylan Larkin leads Detroit with 27 goals and 56 points in 50 games
• Moritz Seider leads the Red Wings with 36 assists in 55 games
• Seider leads all Detroit defensemen in scoring with 41 points
• Lucas Raymond continues to lead all NHL rookies in scoring with 43 points in 55 games
• Defenseman Marc Staal leads the Red Wings with a +12 rating
• Goaltender Thomas Greiss is expected to start and has an 8-8-1 record, 3.37 GAA, and a .895 SV%, in 20 games
• Seider recorded an assist last night to extend his rookie point streak to eight games

Detroit Projected Lineup

Forwards

Valdislav Namestnikov – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond

Robby Fabbri – Pius Suter – Tyler Bertuzzi

Michael Rasmussen – Joe Veleno – Filip Zadina

Adam Erne – Sam Gagner – Givani Smith

Defensemen

Nick Leddy – Moritz Seider

Marc Staal – Troy Stecher

Jordan Oesterle – Filip Hronek

Goaltenders

Thomas Greiss (starter)

Alex Nedeljkovic

Scratched: Gustav Lindstrom, Danny DeKeyser

Injured: Jakub Vrana (upper body), ), Carter Rowney (lower body), Mitchell Stephens (lower body)

Panthers Notes

• Florida are currently 1st in the Atlantic Division with a 36-13-5 record
• The Panthers special teams are currently 15th in PP (20.9%) and 18th in PK (79.3%)
• Jonathan Huberdeau is 3rd in NHL scoring with 75 points and leads the NHL with 57 assists in 54 games
• Aleksander Barkov leads the Panthers with 25 goals in 41 games
• Aaron Ekblad leads all Florida defensemen in scoring with 49 points
• Ekblad also leads all Panthers players with a +34 rating
• Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start and has a 27-6-3 record, 2.56 GAA, a .916 SV% and two SO in 38 games

Florida Projected Lineup

Forwards

Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Mason Marchment

Jonathan Huberdeau – Sam Bennett – Anthony Duclair

Frank Vatrano – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart

Ryan Lomberg – Eetu Luostarinen – Patric Hornqvist

Defensemen  

MacKenzie Weegar – Aaron Ekblad

Gustav Forsling – Radko Gudas

Lucas Carlsson – Brandon Montour

Goaltenders

Sergei Bobrovsky (starting)

Jonas Johansson

Scratched: Noel Acciari, Maxim Mamin, Olli Juolevi

Injured: Markus Nutivaara (lower body), Joe Thornton (undisclosed)