The Wings (0-5-2) are still seeking their first win and continue to maintain a positive attitude.
"You just gotta come to work every day," alternate captain Justin Abdelkader said after Friday's practice at the BB&T Center. "You just gotta make sure you're working hard and going out and playing to the best of your abilities, no matter what things get thrown at you. You continue to go to work. That's what our job is, that's what we get paid to do, so no matter how things go, we gotta wake up the next day and come to work."
For some of the rookies like Michael Rasmussen, losing is something completely new to them.
"I haven't really been through losing streaks when I was in Tri (Tri-City) too much," Rasmussen said. "Overall obviously it's not good. We want to win, everything is better when you win. You play better when you win, you get more points when you win, and with more success you have a lot more fun. Hockey is about fun, winning is fun and we've got to start winning here."
Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, who will be making his season debut after missing the first seven games with an upper-body injury, has been able to watch his team during this opening stretch.
"Consistency throughout 60 minutes is one big problem," Ericsson said. "We've been playing good for like 40 minutes but those 20 minutes have really been hurting us."
There is the hope that the Wings can withstand an early Panthers' attack and then wear them down as they are playing the second of back-to-back games.
"We want to come out hard from the drop of the puck," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said Saturday before the game. "You hope that helps you. It hasn't seemed to be the case in the last couple years with back-to-backs. I got to make sure we're ready to be battle-tested right away, that's one thing that sometimes the team that played the night before has the advantage. We can't let that happen here tonight. Obviously it was a long trip for them so hopefully they're tired. But whatever they are doesn't matter, we need to make sure we play real good hockey."
Abdelkader said the Wings have to play to their strengths.
"We gotta use our speed," Abdelkader said. "Try to be heavy in the offensive zone, hang on to pucks, and use that to our advantage. We gotta be better. Last year we weren't good enough against teams playing on back to backs. Just making sure that we come out with that mentality that we're gonna make it hard on their D and hang on to pucks as much as we can in the offensive zone and use our speed to transition quickly."
HRONEK WATCHES: When Trevor Daley returned and Luke Witkowski drew into the lineup Thursday in Tampa, rookie Filip Hronek was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
"Like we talked about with Rasmussen, sometimes it's good for young guys to take a breather," Blashill said. "I thought he's done some good things, but multiple games in a row he made some big mistakes that ended up in our net and he's just got to sit back and kind of read, make a little better reads against some rush chances against.
"He's a guy whose one of his assets is he likes to get up in the play, which is a great thing, he just needs to learn how to do it at the right time, more as the weak-side defenseman than the strong-side defenseman. It's just part of the learning process for a young defenseman."
Hronek has a goal and two assists in six games.
Blashill said before the game Saturday that Hronek would be a healthy scratch again.
With Ericsson returning, Blashill said Luke Witkowski will come out of the lineup.
MILESTONE ALERT: Center Dylan Larkin will be skating in his 250th career game.
In 12 games against the Panthers, Larkin has five goals and five assists.
