PREVIEW: Four-game road trip carries on as Red Wings clash with Panthers on Thursday

SUNRISE, Fla. – Touching down in the Sunshine State for the second time in less than two weeks, the Detroit Red Wings will continue their four-game road trip when they square off against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday night. 

“We have a great opportunity against a team that’s obviously looking for some revenge,” Moritz Seider said. “We came in their building and played a really solid game [a 5-3 win on Nov. 2], so I think that’s something we’re going to look forward to. We can still finish the trip .500, and I think that should definitely be the ultimate goal here.”

The Red Wings (7-9-3; 17 points) and Panthers (10-7-2; 22 points) will drop the puck at 7:30 p.m. ET, with streaming available exclusively on ESPN+/Hulu/Disney+. Ken Kal and Stu Grimson will have the call on the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

After grabbing a 1-0 lead late in the first period against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday, Detroit conceded two quick goals at the start of second and couldn’t rally in an eventual 3-2 setback – its fourth straight loss.

“The third period in St. Louis, one of our better periods lately,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s just the simple fact that the first and second weren’t. Our margin of error is so thin, if we don’t use every one of the 60 minutes and try and swing it in our favor, we’re chasing it.”

Notably, Marco Kasper and Mason Appleton — both of whom sustained injuries during the first week of the season — returned to the lineup on Tuesday. Kasper logged 15:06 of ice time, while Appleton finished with 10:03.

 “Never easy,” McLellan said. “Coming back from an injury is always tough, but at the beginning of the year you don’t really get any type of your personal foundation in place and all of a sudden you’re out, and now you got to come back when everybody’s at the 20-game mark. That’s, in my opinion, a really tough thing to do, so I thought they both handled themselves well. They managed their shift length and their contribution using the gas tanks that they had. You can never recreate the intensity in a game through therapeutic skates, so I thought they did a good job and we expect their games to grow.”

Per McLellan, the only lineup change from Tuesday’s clash will be Carter Mazur in for Michael Rasmussen.

“Michael’s played really strong,” McLellan said. “Last few haven’t been as good. He’s ended up in the wrong spot at the wrong time at the scene of the crime. We just want to give (Mazur) a chance to go.”

The Panthers have won two of their last four games, most recently a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday. At this stage of the season, Matthew Tkachuk leads Florida with 27 points (four goals, 23 assists), followed by Seth Jones with 21 (three goals, 18 assists) and Brady Tkachuk with 20 (10 goals, 10 assists).

“We kind of know the game plan,” Seider said. “I think it’s just about who wants it more. St. Louis definitely had a better start on us, and we kind of chased the whole time. I know we have a great chance against a real good team. We know how they play. They’re going to be aggressive, especially with their D. They’re going to pinch everywhere. They’re a fast transition team, so we’ve got to be dialed in to get two points.”