The Florida Panthers were able to clinch a spot in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs on Thursday night thanks to the Detroit Red Wings.
Even though the Panthers lost 3-2 to the Islanders, Detroit’s 4-0 loss in Raleigh to the Hurricanes was enough for Florida to punch its ticket.
Now, the Red Wings visit Sunrise this afternoon — and both teams are trying to right their ship.
Florida has nine games left in order to get ready for the postseason but it has lost six of the past seven (1-5-1).
Detroit sits two points back of the Washington Capitals for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Lately, the Red Wings have not done much scoring. They also have not done a good job of keeping the puck out of their net.
Alex Lyon will start against his former teammates today, a year after his outstanding play helped the Panthers get into the 2023 playoffs.
Lyon got the win in his first trip back to Sunrise as the Red Wings snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Panthers.
He would like to find some of that magic today.
Lyon has gone winless in his past nine games (0-8-1) and has not won a game in over a month.
Florida is expected to counter with Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Panthers bounced back from their 3-2 overtime loss to the Red Wings on Jan. 19 by winning 4-0 in Detroit on March 2.
Florida has shut out the Red Wings in two of the past three games and have outscored them 8-3 in the three games.
Bobrovsky started all three games, posting a combined .958/1.00 with the two shutouts.
The Panthers have earned at least a point in each of their past 12 games against the Red Wings (11-0-1) since March 30, 2021; Florida is 9-1-1 record against Detroit since March 10, 2019.
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