Inside the Article:
The Detroit Red Wings take on the reigning President’s Trophy Champion Florida Panthers with puck drop set for 7:00 PM. This is the Red Wings’ third and final matchup against the Panthers this season with Detroit dropping the first two games 5-1 in Florida and 3-2 in Detroit.
Detroit Red Wings (30-29-9) vs. Florida Panthers (35-27-7)
When: Monday, March 20
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Little Cesar’s Arena (Detroit, MI)
Channel: Bally Sports Detroit/ NHL Network
Red Wings vs. Panthers Scoring Leaders
Why it matters
The Red Wings have not beaten the Panthers since February 20, 2021, a year in which these two teams played each other eight times. Since the start of the 2021 season, the Red Wings are 2-9-3 against the Panthers. The Panthers have outscored the Red Wings 52-26 in those 14 games.
The Panthers are currently a team ahead of the Red Wings in the Atlantic Division and the Wild Card chase. The Panthers right now sit in fourth place while the Red Wings are in seventh in the division. The Panthers made some off-season moves that changed the direction of the team and they have fallen from the top of the league to a mid-tier team struggling to make the playoffs this season.
Ville Husso will get the start in net for the Red Wings and in his career against Florida he is 1-1-1 in three starts, stopping 99 of the 108 shots he saw. He has a 3.05 Goals Against Average and a save percentage of .917.
Tonight’s game is a story of two teams heading in opposite directions, with the Red Wings have won two of their last ten while the Panthers have won seven of their last ten.
Detroit Red Wings vs. Florida Panthers by the numbers
Tonight’s Red Wings player to watch: Jonatan Berggren
Berggren has been a solid surprise player for the Red Wings this season having been called up and playing his first career NHL game on November 10th against the New York Rangers. He wasted no time notching his first career NHL point with an assist in that game. He followed that up scoring his first goal five days later against the Anaheim Ducks. So far this season Berggren has played in 53 games for the Red Wings scoring 12 goals and adding 11 assists. Berggren has cooled off as of late managing only one point in his last three games.
- Berggren ranks fifth on the team in goals.
- Berggren ranks ninth on the team in assists.
- Berggren ranks seventh on the team in total points.
He’s expected to play on the third line with Andrew Copp and David Perron. Berggren will also play on the second power play unit with Copp, Filip Zadina, Dominik Kubalik, and Jake Walman.
- Berggren has four power-play goals this season.
- Berggren has four power-play assists this season.
Berggren’s career vs. Florida
Berggren has played in both games against the Panthers this season and in both of those games Berggren found the back of the net, one of those goals also was a power-play goal. Look for Berggren to score tonight in this one and keep his success going against Florida.
Wrap Up
The Detroit Red Wings have all but seen their playoff hopes dwindle with their recent skid and inability to score. Over the last ten games the Red Wings have managed to score only 2.2 goals a game and in those ten games, they have scored only one goal in five of them. The Red Wings have also allowed over those ten games an average of four goals a game.
It is a crazy thing to say but those two losses against the Senators at the end of February changed this whole season for the Red Wings. Yes, guys would have still been traded at the deadline, but the team was playing with a spark that had not been seen since November.
Now the conversation amongst Red Wings fans has changed, and they want this team to keep losing and try to better their chances at the lottery, for a chance to pick anywhere in the top three and have a chance at one of those players that scouts are saying could be franchise-changing players.
The Wings have 14 games remaining over the next four weeks, with eight of those games being against teams that are in the playoffs. So this will be a stretch to see if this Red Wings team can perform against some of the best in the league and even what could be fixed for next season.
What is the Detroit Red Wings’ schedule?
Remaining Detroit Red Wings Schedule:
