George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers and Detroit Red Wings won’t have much time to celebrate — or stew over — their previous meeting as the two Central/Atlantic division rivals meet up again Sunday afternoon.
On Saturday, the Panthers got an overtime goal from Aleksi Heponiemi in overtime to pull out a 3-2 win.
The game-winning goal was Heponiemi’s first in the NHL — and it came in his NHL debut.
For Florida, the win kept up its success not only this season but in Detroit.
The Panthers have won their past four games at Little Caesars Arena and 12 of the past 14 in Detroit. Florida has started its season 4-0-1 and go into Sunday’s game tied for second in the Central Division.
On Saturday, coach Joel Quenneville mixed things up, scratching veteran forward Brett Connolly and replacing him with rookie Owen Tippett on the third line.
Tippett missed Thursday’s game because he was demoted to the taxi squad, only to be bumped back up Saturday.
Quenneville also tweaked his fourth line, sitting Vinnie Hinostroza and placing Ryan Lomberg on the taxi squad.
Heponiemi came up and made his debut while Juho Lammikko played in his first NHL game since the Panthers demoted him to the AHL in 2019.
We will soon know whether Quenneville runs the same lineup back.
He would not say whether or not he would in his Sunday afternoon media session.
One change we expected comes in goal with Chris Driedger getting the start after Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves in Saturday’s win.
Driedger (1-0-1) has surrendered one 5-on-5 goal in his two starts with the Panthers this season, his only loss coming in the fourth round of a shootout in Columbus on Thursday.
Florida’s penalty kill was on point Saturday as it took care of all four of Detroit’s chances with the man advantage.
Both of Florida’s non-Heponiemi goals were scored on the power play as the Panthers went 2-for-3.
The Red Wings are already missing a handful of players due to Covid-19 protocols and may be without Tyler Bertuzzi and Luke Glendening on Sunday.
Bertuzzi left the game in the second period and did not return; Glendening needed help after being slammed into the boards by MacKenzie Weegar in the third.
While Quenneville may go with the same lineup, Detroit may not have that option.
I don’t even know who they could use if Bertuzzi and Glendening are out.
So, we left their lineup the same (the way Thomas Greiss plays against the Panthers, may as well play him again) and will update when we hear something.
Florida Panthers at Detroit Red Wings
When: Sunday, 5 p.m.
Where: Little Caesars Arena; Detroit, Mich.
TV/Radio: FSF/560-AM
Records: Florida 4-0-1 (T-2nd in Central); Detroit 2-5-2 (8th in Central)
All-time series: Florida leads 24-17-5 (six ties)
Season series: Florida leads 1-0
Last season: Florida won all three meetings, outscored Detroit 13-5
Up next: Nashville at Florida, Thursday, 7 p.m.; Detroit at Tampa Bay, Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
Projected Florida Panthers lines
Florida forwards
23 Carter Verhaeghe — 16 Sasha Barkov — 91 Anthony Duclair
11 Jonathan Huberdeau — 21 Alex Wennberg — 70 Patric Hornqvist
77 Frank Vatrano —27 Eetu Luostarinen — 74 Owen Tippett
55 Noel Acciari — 20 Aleksi Heponiemi — 83 Juho Lammikko
Florida defensemen
52 MacKenzie Weegar — 5 Aaron Ekblad
65 Markus Nutivaara — 6 Anton Stralman
3 Keith Yandle — 7 Radko Gudas
Florida goalies
60 Chris Driedger
60 Chris Driedger
Likely scratches: D Noah Juulsen, F Brett Connolly, F Vinnie Hinostroza
Taxi squad: D Kevin Connauton, F Ryan Lomberg, F Mason Marchment, F Owen Tippett, G Philippe Desrosiers.
IR: D Gustav Forsling (upper body)
Florida power play (5/15, 33.3% 7th in NHL)
Florida penalty kill (14/18 77.8% 17th in NHL)
PP1: Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Patric Hornqvist, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle
PP2: Alex Wennberg, Owen Tippett, Anthony Duclair, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Stralman
Projected Detroit Red Wings lines
Detroit forwards (based on Saturday’s game)
59 Tyler Bertuzzi — 71 Dylan Larkin — 54 Bobby Ryan
86 Mathias Brome — 41 Luke Glendenning — 43 Darren Helm
67 Taro Hirose — 92 Vladislav Namestnikov — 39 Anthony Mantha
81 Frans Nielsen — 51 Valtteri Filppula — 27 Michael Rasmussen
Detroit defensemen
22 Patrik Nemeth — 17 Filip Hronek
18 Marc Staal — 70 Troy Stecher
65 Dan Dekeyser — 44 Christian Djoos
Detroit goalies
29 Thomas Greiss
31 Calvin Pickard
Detroit power play (4/31 12.9%, 24th in NHL)
Detroit penalty kill (19/28 67.9%, 30th in NHL)
PP1: Bobby Ryan, Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek, Anthony Mantha
PP2: Matias Brome, Michael Rasmussen, Vladislav Namestnikov, Christian Djoos, Taro Hirose