Panthers, Wings have different mindsets heading into Saturday tilt
SUNRISE, Fla. -- It was just one game, but it rocked the collective psyche of the Detroit Red Wings.
It was just one game, but it lifted up as many as two South Florida franchises.
When the Wings visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday night at the BB&T Center, the latter team will arrive to its home arena fully confident while Detroit will be looking to make some very quick adjustments.
The Wings blew a 3-1 second-period lead to the host Tampa Bay Lightning and lost their season opener 6-4 on Thursday night. It wasn't just the loss that was troubling -- it was the fact that the Wings gave up three power-play goals.
Tampa Bay's go-ahead goal came on a power play that took just five seconds to result in a score -- downright embarrassing for a proud Wings franchise.
"We had lots of self-inflicted wounds," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "When you score three goals, you should at least go into overtime. But we gave up too many easy chances."
The Wings were disappointed in their penalty kill last year, when they were 14th in the league at 81.5 percent.
Detroit's Petr Mrazek made 30 saves on Thursday. But he couldn't survive a penalty-kill that was beaten 50 percent of the time (3-for-6).
Mrazek, 24, is coming off a season in which he won a career-high 27 games. He went 27-16-6 with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .921 saves percentage. His numbers look ugly off his performance on Thursday -- a 5.08 GAA and a .857 saves percentage.
Detroit could give him a rest and go with accomplished veteran Jimmy Howard, the 34-year-old who went 14-14-5 with a 2.80 GAA and a .906 saves percentage last year.
Blashill, though, has indicated he will stick with Mrazek for Saturday's game and instead will mix up his lines and defensive pairings. One of the big changes Detroit will make on Saturday is to shift left winger Andreas Athanasiou from a healthy scratch all the way to the top line with Henrik Zetterberg and Frans Nielsen.
"(Athanasiou) brings a lot of speed," Blashill said. "He can get in on the forecheck and create turnovers. We need to tinker to get the most out of every line."
Detroit will still be without injured Niklas Kronwall, the Wings' top defenseman who is getting closer to a return.
His absence figures to be important as the Wings face a Panthers team that beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 in overtime on a goal by Aleksander Barkov.
The Panthers are coming off a season in which they made the playoffs and set franchise records for wins (47) and points (103).
Thursday's win was extra motivational because the Panthers honored the late Jose Fernandez, the Miami Marlins pitcher who died at age 24 in a Sept. 25 boating accident. All Panthers players wore jerseys with No. 16 -- Fernandez's old number -- during warm-ups.
In overtime, the Panthers' real No. 16 -- Barkov -- got the game-winner.
But now that the opener is over, the Panthers will be back to business. They will surely look to exploit Detroit's penalty-kill issues, especially with defenseman Keith Yandle at the point.
Yandle, who bolted from the New York Rangers, signed a seven-year, $44 million deal with Florida in June. The 30-year-old Boston native had an impressive 42 assists last year, and he is teaming with the Panthers' other star defenseman, 20-year-old Aaron Ekblad, on the power play.
The Panthers were 23rd in the power play last year at 16.9 percent. But they brought in assistant coach Dave Barr from the Buffalo Sabres to jump-start the unit.
Florida has also added rookie defenseman Michael Matheson to the mix. He got the game-winning assist to Barkov on Thursday.
"(Matheson) made a big play," Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. "He knocked his guy off the puck, created separation and made the play to 'Barky'. He had a solid game."
Matheson, 22, is part of what appears to be a bright future for Florida. Certainly, the Red Wings are the more tradition-rich franchise with 11 Stanley Cups -- 11 more than the Panthers. But the Panthers actually have shorter odds to win the Cup this year (21-1 as opposed to 32-1).
Everything is trending in Florida's favor with 37-year-old goalie Roberto Luongo continuing to show fine form in between the pipes and several young stars on the team such as Barkov and Ekblad.
The Panthers have new uniforms this year, and they struck a deal late last year that allows them to stay at the BB&T Center long-term.
Now it's just a matter of keeping the momentum going on the ice, and that effort continues on Saturday against a Detroit franchise that will have something to prove -- no matter how early it is in the season.
