Detroit @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 31, 2018 ) Florida 4, Detroit 3

The Florida Panthers finally halted a frustrating six-game skid with a lopsided victory Friday night and will try to make it two straight wins against one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference. Sitting nine points out of the second wild card, the Panthers cannot afford to stumble when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night.

Florida lost six consecutive one-goal decisions during their 0-2-4 slide, capped by a gut-wrenching 4-3 setback at Boston in which the Bruins scored twice in the final 37 seconds. "Coming here, we had two choices: either forget about the last game and play as hard as we could this game, or just feel sorry about ourselves," captain Aleksander Barkov said after setting a franchise record with five assists in Friday's 6-2 demolition of Minnesota. The Red Wings ended an eight-game drought (0-5-3) of their own with a 3-2 shootout win over the New York Rangers on Thursday but opened a three-game road trip with a 3-2 loss at league-best Tampa Bay on Saturday night. Detroit won at Florida on Oct. 20 but lost twice at home to the Panthers this season in a series that has seen eight of the last nine games decided by one goal.

TV: 5 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, FS Florida

ABOUT THE RED WINGS (24-34-10): Since ending a nine-game goal drought, Anthony Mantha has scored five times in the last 10 contests to move into third on the team with 17 tallies. Detroit will be without leading scorer Dylan Larkin for a third straight game, but the team is hopeful he will be able to return for Tuesday's matchup against Montreal. With backup Jonathan Bernier getting the start Saturday, Jimmy Howard will face the Panthers for the fourth time this season after giving up eight goals and going 1-1-1 in the first three meetings.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (29-27-12): Barkov, who became the fifth player in franchise history with a five-point game, needs three more to match his career high of 78 set last season. The former No. 2 overall draft pick had plenty of help from linemates Evgenii Dadonov (three assists) and red-hot Jonathan Huberdeau (one goal, three assists), who has scored eight times and has 19 points in his last 11 games. "We needed someone to put us on their back and carry us a little bit early, and that was Barky's line, for sure," coach Bob Boughner told reporters.

OVERTIME

1. Barkov has four assists in three meetings with the Red Wings this season and 17 points in 21 games against them.

2. Red Wings F Filip Zadina, the No. 6 overall pick in last year's draft, earned his first NHL assist Saturday.

3. Huberdeau needs two assists to tie Viktor Kozlov's franchise record of 53.

PREDICTION: Panthers 4, Red Wings 2