Detroit @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 2, 2019 ) Detroit 0, Florida 4

The Florida Panthers were heading into the Christmas break with a head of steam, only to be cooled off in a lopsided drubbing at in-state rival Tampa Bay. The Panthers will look to get back on track after a four-day respite with a pair of home games against Atlantic Division rivals, beginning with Saturday night's matchup against the struggling Detroit Red Wings.

Florida had won three in a row by a combined 17-7 count before absorbing a 6-1 beating by the Lightning on Monday, leaving it among a cluster of five division teams separated by four points entering the break. “We have two big games here at home," coach Joel Quenneville told reporters of the back-to-back against the Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens. "Let’s play the right way and we’ll go one game at a time.” Detroit owns the worst record in the league after dropping four in a row and 16 of the last 18 (2-14-2), which followed three straight wins from Nov. 8-12. "I guess Christmas comes at a good time right now," Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen told reporters after a 5-2 loss to Arizona prior to the hiatus. "Hopefully we can recharge the batteries a little bit here. We gotta look better than this coming back from this little break."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Detroit Plus, FS Florida

ABOUT THE RED WINGS (9-26-3): Detroit announced Friday that power forward Anthony Mantha will be sidelined for at least four weeks with an injury to his rib cage sustained against Toronto a week ago. Mantha, who scored a career-high 25 goals in 2018-19 and tallied 12 times in his first 23 games this season, was hurt in his fourth game since returning to the lineup after sitting out eight contests due to a knee injury. Tyler Bertuzzi has scored in three straight games but has one assist in seven career matchups versus Florida.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (18-13-5): Top defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who had eight assists in his last eight games, was ruled out for at least the weekend after he took a shot off the shoulder in Monday's loss. Quenneville juggled his lines at Friday's practice, reuniting the trio of captain Aleksander Barkov, Evgenii Dadonov and Jonathan Huberdeau while Vincent Trocheck centered reigning First Star of the Week Noel Acciari and Brett Connolly. Huberdeau has goals in three straight and scored twice in a 4-0 win over Detroit on Nov. 2.

OVERTIME

1. Panthers backup G Chris Driedger will start Saturday and Sergei Bobrovsky will get the nod Sunday.

2. Detroit recalled F Filip Zadina, D Brian Lashoff and G Calvin Pickard from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Friday.

3. Acciari has seven goals in his last four games, but only one tally and zero assists in nine meetings versus Detroit.

PREDICTION: Panthers 4, Red Wings 1