A little Saturday matinee tilt is always a good thing for hockey fans, though it hasn’t always worked out well for the Florida Panthers.
Regardless, today should be a good game. The motivated Detroit Red Wings will play host to the Cats this afternoon when the two teams clash in the Motor City.
If there has ever been doubt about the Yzerman magic, look no further than the 32-21-6 Wings. This is a team that is in the #1 Wild Card slot and playing some very good hockey at the moment.
They will run into a different breed of animal today, though (pun intended). At 40-16-4, Cats are atop the Eastern Division and #1 overall in the league. As Florida Panthers fans, did you ever think you would see this team in that position?
Wow!
Something interesting that
Litter Box Cats points out in their preview of today’s game:
“
Currently holding down Wild Card 1, the Red Wings are on pace to make their first postseason appearance since 2016, when they lost in the first round to the Tampa Bay Lightning. They come into today’s tilt, which concludes a three-game homestand, off a tough 5-3 loss to the desperate New York Islanders that halted a season-high, six-game winning streak. That torrid run included three victories (against Calgary, St. Louis and Washington) by a five-goal margin. Dylan Larkin leads Detroit with 26 goals and 54 points, while in-season signing Patrick Kane has amassed 31 points in 29 games and is on a ten-game point streak.”
Did you catch it?
Here it is: “…the Red Wings are on pace to make their first postseason appearance since 2016”
This statement blew my mind, and, actually, I had to fact check it. Turns out that it is in fact accurate. If you’re newer to hockey, odds are you read this and didn’t think anything of it. However, if you have been watching the game for a while, this is kind of a surprising reality.
The reason I say this is because during the ‘90s, ‘00s, and ‘10s, Detroit kind of epitomized playoff hockey. I mean…their postseason streak went 25 years (1991-2016). That’s an unreal streak, and because of that strong play season after season, you kind of became conditioned to assuming they would always be in the hunt come playoffs time. So it’s sort of jarring when you see that 2016 year being the last time they were in the postseason mix.
Anyways…
I’m really looking forward to today. A team looking to prove themselves against the top dog is always a receipt for fun. Detroit has a lot of speed and skill. I can’t wait to see that collide with our defense.
While he had his Cinderella run with Florida (and I loved every minute of it), let’s shell Alex Lyon with the biscuit today!
I predict a 4-2 Cats win.
Quick shoutout to my guy Stolarz on his 100th game in the league. Congrats!
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Go Panthers!
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