Detroit Red Wings vs. Florida Panthers Pick & Prediction NOVEMBER 2nd 2023

The Detroit Red Wings averted a four-game winless streak with a late rally on Monday. They’ll look to ride that momentum into their home game against Florida on Thursday.

Lucas Raymond’s overtime goal capped the Wings comeback against the New York Islanders. Detroit trailed 2-0 entering the third period and emerged with a 4-3 win.

“In the third period and being down a couple (goals), a couple games in a row, and we haven’t been able to pull them out,” Raymond said. “(Monday) we were able to get it and it means a lot. We stayed calm and we got the win.”

The Wings head into their November schedule with a 6-3-1 record. Their improved offense is ranked among the top five in the league at 4.0 goals per game.

“It’s a good sign for our guys,” coach Derek Lalonde said of the victory over the Islanders. “They just hung in there the whole time, didn’t get rattled and kept going. It’s a big win for us. If we want to get anywhere where we’re trying to get to, we have to stop these kinds of slides and I give credit to our guys for hanging in there.”

Following an overtime loss to Seattle, the Wings had lost to Winnipeg and Boston by identical 4-1 margins. Lalonde saw a much better effort from his club in New York, even before the rally began.

“We were way more competitive,” Lalonde said. “For whatever reason we weren’t very competitive the last two starts and that’s disappointing. But we had pushes in both those games but that’s not a recipe for success, to chase games like that. This was a little different.”

The Panthers finished the October portion of their schedule with a 4-3-1 record. They had won four of five games before a 3-2 overtime loss at Boston on Monday.

Florida took a 2-0 lead into the second period but couldn’t hold off the red-hot Bruins.

“Our first period was outstanding,” captain Aleksander Barkov said. “We just have to learn how to keep going the same way when we start the right way. It’s been happening all season, we have good periods and bad periods.

“We want to establish that game that we were playing 60 minutes as hard as possible, not just 20 minutes or 40 minutes. I know they’re a good team. They’re in first place. If you give them chances, they’re going to score.”

The Panthers left Boston with a couple of new injuries. Forward Sam Bennett, who was making his season debut, couldn’t finish the contest due to a lower body injury.

“Everyone was excited about him coming back. He’s such a big part of our culture here,” Barkov said. “Let’s hope for the best that it’s not long term. We missed him and we saw that in the first period. We played really good in the first period and he was part of that.”

Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson suffered a head injury on an illegal check by Charlie McAvoy. The NHL handed McAvoy a four-game suspension for the hit on Tuesday.

Florida swept the three-game series with Detroit last season.

–Field Level Media