Red Wings / Panthers :: November 20

The Wings and Panthers will meet almost exactly a year after their last run-in. On November 14, 2008, our Red Wings defeated Florida’s Second Favorite Hockey Team 3-2 with Ty Conklin in net, and on the strength of two Hossa goals and a third from Franzen. The win gave Detroit a record of 11-2-3. They’ll be looking for their eleventh win of the season once again against the Panthers.

The Panthers BARELY missed the playoffs, finishing with the same amount of points and wins as the 8th place Montreal Canadiens, which is heartbreaking for a team that – like Drew says – hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since the Clinton Administration.

Shawn Matthias, the prospect included in the deal that brought Todd Bertuzzi to Hockeytown originally, is Panther property, but he’s currently in Rochester of the AHL. Would have been awesome to see him line up directly across from Todd Bertuzzi and not fall for Bertuzzi’s retarded Savard impression.

Todd Bertuzzi only played seven games for Florida before THEY realized he wasn’t all he was cracked up to be. Andreas Lilja is also a former Panther, but he’ll be in Vancouver visiting that chiropractor again.

The Panthers all-time record against the Red Wings is 3 wins, 9 losses, 3 overtime losses, and 5 ties. The Red Wings have outscored the Panthers  71-47 in their 20 games. Why, yes. Yes I did go through each Panthers season manually and do the math.

–Detroit lost to Dennis LaRue and the rest of the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. The final score was 3-1

–Florida smoked Buffalo 6-2, with goals from six different scorers.

Detroit Red Wings :: 10-6-3 (3rd in Central, 9th in West) :: 7-1-1 at home

Miami-Dade Orange Jerseys :: 8-9-2 (4th in Southeast, 13th in East) :: 5-4-1 on the road

Chris Osgood will start for the first time since getting blown out in Toronto during Hall of Fame weekend. Brad May, despite his fight and obvious goal on Wednesday, comes out and a healthy Kirk Maltby goes in.

Bertuzzi — Datsyuk — Holmstrom

Cleary — Zetterberg — Leino

Draper — Helm — Eaves

Miller — Abdelkader — Maltby

Lidstrom — Rafalski

Kronwall — Stuart

Ericsson — Lebda

Osgood

Howard

Scratches:

Derek “Press Pass” Meech

Brad “That’s a Goal, Boys” May

Injured:

Andreas “Pretty Much Retired” Lilja

Johan “This. Is. Sparta.” Franzen

Valtteri “Red Cast” Filppula

Jason “Not the Basketball Player” Williams

1. It’ll be really interesting to see how the Red Wings rebound from getting hosed on Wednesday. There’s no guarantee the outcome would have been any different in terms of wins and losses, but it definitely deflated the sails a little bit. I expect them to bounce back like the professionals they are, and now that Uncle Mike has said his peace, its water under the bridge.

2. Florida is coming off a great effort in Buffalo, beating a hell of a hockey team. They should be flexing their muscles and feeling good about themselves as they come into the Joe, so they shouldn’t be underestimated despite the fact that they haven’t been on the playoff radar the last few ice ages.

3. I would love if Henrik Zetterberg continued his hot streak. In the last four games, he has five goals and five assists, he’s shooting 31% and is +6. Also, he’s Arbified a desperately hungry nation of Wings fans.
4. Draper, Helm, Eaves, and Miller are coming off of rather quiet games, and I’d expect a little more jump from them.
5. I’m sure we’re all excited to see how Chris Osgood plays in his first game back from an extended break. He’s due for a good performance, but he’s also rather cold.

WHAT WE LEARNED vs. the Stars

Tin foil makes for great hats.

Shawn Matthias. Because that means the Todd Bertuzzi trade didn’t happen. Of course, he still may have signed as a free agent in July…but still. I’d only be embarrassed for the Wings once instead of twice.