Red Wings-Panthers: Detroit GameDay

Tonight marks the only meeting between the Wings and the Florida Panthers this season. The Panthers won the last meeting 3-2 in overtime two years ago.

The puck drops at 7:00 ET. 

Florida (14-15-2) is 2-2-1 thus far in December. The Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over the Islanders on the 7th, but lost four nights later to the Flames, 2-1 in a shootout.

On Thursday, they kicked off a four-game road trip with a 1-0 win over St. Louis. The Panthers will be trying to set a new team record for consecutive road wins by notching their fifth.

Predictably, Olli Jokinen leads the team in goals (16), assists (15), and points (31). He's the only Panther with 10 or more goals, though Nathan Horton isn't far away with eight.

Forward Dan Booth will make his return to the lineup tonight, but the Panthers will be without Mike Van Ryn, Glen Murray (shoulder), Chad Murphy (shoulder), Brett McLean (hand), and Noah Welch (shoulder).

Tomas Vokoun has been unbeatable in his last three games, posting  a .989 save-percentage (92-for-93). He put on a 33-save performance on Thursday and should get the start tonight.

Fan-run Panthers blogs are a little thin on the ground, but you can stop by The Daily Growl and Panthers Daily Puck for the Florida perspective. The newspaper blogs On Frozen Pond and  Panthers Blog are also worth checking out.

It’s nice to see the contrast between this post by the Miami Herald’s George Richards and this one by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune’s Michael Russo (which has since been somewhat toned down from its first incarnation).

The Wings had a seven-game winning streak snapped Thursday night in a 4-3 shootout loss to Edmonton. Tonight is the second of a four-game homestand for the Wings, who will play host to Washington on Monday and LA on Wednesday.

Mikael Samuelsson has gone 10 games without scoring a goal and has a mere two points over that span. The Wings need him to get going—and tonight’s as good a time as any for the former Panther to make his return to the scoreboard.

Tomas Holmstrom (knee), Kris Draper (knee), and Kirk Maltby (back) are all out tonight. Mark Hartigan, Aaron Downey, and Matt Ellis will fill in for them.

Mike Babcock told the media on Wednesday that Chris Osgood would start today and confirmed it once again yesterday.

For more of the Wings perspective, see  Snapshots, Gorilla Crouch, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Gloveside, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, and Winging It In Motown.

Dougie has some pregame comments already posted at HockeyTownTodd.

The Wings are going to need to take control of the action from the start tonight. They can’t let the Panthers play their dump-and-chase style and slow the game down to a snail’s pace.

If Detroit can manage to play with the energy and efficiency they showed against the Wild on the 7th, they should have no trouble putting a couple past Vokoun and shutting down Jokinen.

If they get lulled to sleep by the Panthers, it’ll be a different story.

(via On the Wings)