Thursday night will see a rematch of Sunday afternoon's game between the Panthers and Red Wings. That game ended in a 2-1 Detroit victory.
There are a few significant differences between the game on Sunday and Thursday’s matchup. Fortunately for Cats fans, most of those differences are in Florida’s favor.
First off, the Red Wings were in must-win mode on Sunday. At the time they were still within realistic reach of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. However, their margin of error was slim. The win over the Panthers kept their hopes alive going into a critical matchup against the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday.
Unfortunately for Detroit, Montreal still holds that coveted postseason slot. On Tuesday, the Habs took care of business, defeating the Red Wings 4-1, all but eliminating Detroit from playoff contention.
Detroit should no longer play with the same urgency and desperation. Their long playoff drought looks set to continue, and GM Steve Yzerman may have big decisions to make in the offseason.
On the Florida side, Tuesday night saw the return of Captain Aleksander Barkov from a brief injury stint. He was among the long list of missing Panthers in Sunday’s matchup. Nico Sturm also could potentially return Thursday, though he is still listed as day to day.
The Florida Panthers were missing a lot of firepower, but still made the Red Wings earn everything they got in a 2-1 win Sunday.
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) April 7, 2025
Florida has lost five straight and now lead the Sens by just two points. https://t.co/waGojeC1GL
Finally, this will be a Panthers home game, and the numbers favor Florida. Detroit is a mere 15-18-4 on the road this season, while the Cats are an impressive 25-11-2 at Amerant Bank Arena. The puck drops in Sunrise at 7:00 PM Eastern.
The Panthers are still within reach of moving into the second seed in the Atlantic Division. They sit three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning with four games remaining. That includes a head-to-head in Tampa on the final day of the regular season.
Panthers projected lines for April 10th vs. Detroit
Forwards:
Carter Verhaeghe–Aleksander Barkov–Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen–Anton Lundell–Brad Marchand
Jesse Puljujarvi–Evan Rodrigues–Mackie Samoskevich
A.J. Greer–Tomas Nosek–Jonah Gadjovich
Defensemen:
Niko Mikkola–Seth Jones
Gustav Forsling–Nate Schmidt
Jaycob Megna–Uvis Balinskis
Goaltender:
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek