The Red Wings head into Sunrise trying to stop the slide, and they’ll do it against a Panthers team that still sits in the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Florida owns a five-point edge over Detroit, with puck drop set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
Detroit comes in at 7-9-3 and has dropped four straight. The offense has dried up during that stretch, with Alex DeBrincat, Viktor Arvidsson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard all going pointless.
The one bright spot has been Lucas Raymond, who has a goal and three assists over his last five games. He also set up both Detroit goals in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss at St.
Louis.
The Red Wings are expected to go back to Daniil Tarasov in net. Tarasov was in goal on Nov. 2 when Detroit beat Florida 5-3, and the Red Wings have not won since. Tarasov, who played for the Panthers last season, is expected to get the nod again tonight, with John Gibson backing him up.
Detroit’s numbers tell the story of a team fighting to stay afloat. The Red Wings rank 27th in scoring at 2.58 goals per game, sit 13th in goals-against at 3.00, and have slipped back under 70% on the penalty kill, where they’re 27th at 69.5%.
There is at least one name in the organization pushing hard for a look. Carter Bear, Detroit’s 2025 first-round pick, has piled up three goals and 10 assists for 13 points during a six-game points streak with the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Red Wings were originally planning to let him get more AHL time and add strength, but they’ll have to think about a promotion.
Detroit is also dealing with an injury absence in Albert Johansson, who is out with an undisclosed issue and has no timetable for a return.
The projected Detroit lineup has Alex DeBrincat with Emmitt Finnie and Viktor Arvidsson, then Michael Brandsegg-Nygard with Marco Kasper and Lucas Raymond. The defense pairs listed are William Willander with no partner named, Andreas Englund with Anton Johansson, and Ben Chiarot with Justin Faulk. Jacob Bernard-Docker and Mason Appleton are listed as subs.
Florida enters at 10-7-2 and has won two of its last five. The Panthers snapped a rough defensive stretch with a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in their last game, but before that they had allowed 16 goals over their previous four outings. Jacob Markstrom steadied things by stopping 38 of 39 against Columbus, after giving up three or more goals in each of his four starts before that.
The Panthers still have one of the better power plays in the league, sitting at 24.4%.
Florida’s injury list includes Sandis Vilmanis, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, along with Brad Marchand (knee), Aleksander Barkov (knee) and Jonah Gadjovah (neck). Gadjovic and Barkov are both on LTIR, while Marchand is not expected back until just before Thanksgiving.
Florida’s projected forward groups have Brady Tkachuk with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe with Sam Reinhart and Lars Eller, Eetu Luostarinen with Anton Lundell and Jack Devine, and Bokondji Imama with Cole Schwindt and Garnet Hathaway. The defense pairings are Gustav Forsling with Aaron Ekblad, Niko Mikkola with Seth Jones, and Dmitry Kulikov with Radko Gudas. Markstrom is expected to start, with Akira Schmid backing him up.
The game will be carried on DSN and 97.1 FM. Detroit is listed at +1.5 (-185), while Florida is -1.5 (+154).
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Kiiskinen is part of a broader group of prospects and depth names drawing attention, with Dylan James, Carter Bear and Dominik Shine also in the mix as possible answers down the line. For now, the intrigue is less about who is ready today and more about whether the Red Wings have already found a player in the system who can bring a little more scoring punch to a part of the roster that badly needs it. [Read more 🡒]