Notes: Wings expect Panthers to be ready despite travel woes

DETROIT -- The Red Wings are meeting the Florida Panthers at Little Caesars tonight, which is not unusual for the Atlantic Division foes, but the circumstances for the Panthers are quite a bit different.
That's not just because the temperature in metro Detroit is below zero with the wind chill.

The Panthers made it to Boston before the snowstorm hit but the storm forced last night's game to be postponed.
It also meant that the Panthers could not fly out Thursday night.
Instead, they left Friday morning and arrived in Detroit around the time they would usually have held a morning skate.
"They'll be ready," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "If anything, I'm sure their travel plans were tough but they didn't have to play last night. To me it doesn't matter what happened the night before, I know we're going to face a tough team. I know we're going to face a team like us that's scratching and clawing for everything that they can get. They need points and we need points so it should be a good battle."
The Wings and Panthers both have 39 points but the Panthers have played one more game (40).
Blashill said he couldn't recall coaching a team that had a game postponed because of a winter storm.
Last year, the Wings did have a game in Carolina postponed because of a technical problem with the ice equipment that rendered the ice surface unplayable.
Andreas Athanasiou said he did remember having a game postponed due to a snowstorm.
"Actually in juniors maybe I had one," Athanasiou said. "Yeah, we definitely had a snow-out in juniors in Barrie.
"I think it was a road game so we just stayed at home. Probably went and played at the outdoor rink actually. That's probably what we did. One of our teammates had an outdoor rink in their backyard at their billet house. We'd get together and do that a lot."
ZETTERBERG DOESN'T SKATE: Captain Henrik Zetterberg did not participate in the morning skate Friday.
But Blashill said he expected Zetterberg to play against the Panthers.
Zetterberg also missed Tuesday's practice.
"I think this is the time of year where you get guys with nagging stuff," Blashill said. "He's not (un)like different guys on this team, part of the reason we didn't practice yesterday is because we wouldn't have had enough guys available to us. Not that it's going to keep them from games but just got guys with nagging injuries. It's kind of that time of year, good for us, we get a game tonight, game Sunday and we got another break to hopefully get some more rest. We took yesterday as a rest day because of that and hopefully we got lots of energy tonight."
After Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Wings will have their five-day bye.
OT IS AA TIME: Perhaps the Wings' overtime plans should just be Athanasiou, someone who can get him the puck and a defenseman.
The last three overtime (not shootout) games the Wings have won, Athanasiou has scored the game-winner.
It took all of six seconds, tying a league record for fastest overtime goal, for Athanasiou to beat the Ottawa Senators Wednesday night.
Last season the Wings had three games in three nights because of the aforementioned ice snafu in Carolina and Athanasiou scored the overtime winner in the first two.
"Definitely a lot of ice out there in the 3-on-3 so I definitely like that," Athanasiou said. "I definitely think I can generate some offense out there. We have a lot of guys in this room that can play the 3-on-3."
The first was at home against the Minnesota Wild and the second was the first of two road games in Carolina.
Gustav Nyquist passed the puck to Athanasiou in both of those overtime wins last season.
This past Wednesday, it was Dylan Larkin who got Athanasiou the puck off the draw.
With Luke Glendening out due to an injured right hand, the Wings have been going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, which allows Athanasiou to play on Larkin's wing along with Tomas Tatar while also centering a line with Martin Frk and Anthony Mantha.
Athanasiou and Larkin had some chemistry at the end of last season when they played together.
"When you play with Larks, we have kind of a similar speed base so I think we have a good feel for each other, when to take off, whether it's him taking off or I'm taking off, for me as a winger, I can kind of blow the zone a little bit when I see he has the puck," Athanasiou said. "He has that feel and he can see, he knows when I'm going to go and where to deliver the puck and he's doing a really good job of it."
Athanasiou said it's exciting to play with someone with similar abilities.
"He loves to take off, too," Athanasiou said. "I think there's no better feeling than getting the puck at top speed. I think we both know that and do our best to try to hit each other at that top speed."
BETTER DEFENSE: The Wings have won their last three games, in no small part because they have only allowed a total of four goals.
"Every team wants to do that, spend as little time in the D-zone as possible," defenseman Jonathan Ericsson said. "I think we've been doing a better job of that lately. Talking and communicating better so can get out of our end a little quicker than before and that makes us have more energy going into the attack and makes it harder for our opponent. I think we've been doing a better job of that."
Goaltender Jimmy Howard has been a huge part of that, stopping 107 of 111 shots for a .964 save percentage in the streak.
"Since probably that Montreal game, even the St. Louis game I thought we played real good defensively and didn't give up many chances," Blashill said. "I think we've limited chances against. Last game was a low for chances against, despite the number of shots that were given up. That's not to say Jimmy didn't make some big saves. He certainly did. And I think part of it is Jimmy is doing a good job of managing his game. He's sucking lots of pucks and he's not kicking pucks out in the slot where you can really tax your team defensively. I think real good goaltending and real good team defense go hand in hand and you need both to win consistently in this league."