NHL Picks: Red Wings sneak past Panthers in big Atlantic Division tilt – CBSSports.com

Florida Panthers at Detroit Red Wings, 2 p.m. ET

After back-to-back nights of wall-to-wall hockey, the NHL schedule is awfully light Sunday. The only game on tap to close out the weekend is an Atlantic Division tangle between the Red Wings and Panthers.

Both clubs should be fairly well rested considering they were among the few that didn’t play Saturday.

Florida and Detroit are also coming off of big victories Friday, both of which came outside of regulation. The Red Wings bettered the Oilers in overtime, while the Panthers outlasted the Islanders in a rather unique shootout.

The Panthers have more ground to make up than the Red Wings, who have won four of their last six games and are currently in playoff position. Florida just escaped a three-game losing streak with that win over the Islanders and are five points back of the final playoff spot in the East. Any ground they can make up now would help.

However, it’s going to be tough to make up those points in Joe Louis Arena. The Panthers are just 3-4-2 on the road, but have the benefit of having played Detroit tough last year. They actually won the season series in 2014-15 by winning three of four, but Detroit is playing better hockey as of late.

Pavel Datsyuk‘s return has made a huge difference for the club, as the Red Wings are starting to find consistent scoring with a more balanced forward lineup. Henrik Zetterberg and rookie Dylan Larkin continue to impress in tandem. Larkin has five goals over his last six games, while Zetterberg has five points over his last four contests.

The Red Wings will also be turning to Petr Mrazek, who has been mostly excellent this year, between the pipes Sunday. Mrazek has a .931 save percentage in 13 appearances this season.

On the other side, the Panthers will likely be starting Roberto Luongo, who has good numbers despite an underwhelming record of 7-8-3.

The club will also be hoping to help Jaromir Jagr reach a rather significant milestone. His next goal will be the 731st of his career, which would tie him with Marcel Dionne for fourth on the NHL’s all-time goal scoring list. The veteran left Florida’s last game early with an injury, but is expected to play Sunday. The Legend is also riding a five-game point streak.

There’s a big two points on the line for both clubs, so it should be a rather spirited and close matchup between these Atlantic Division foes. The Red Wings have the edge in their play of late and being on home ice, which may be just enough to put them over the top against a Panthers team struggling to gain ground.

Pick: Red Wings 3, Panthers 2

Henrik Zetterberg and Dylan Larkin have become one of the NHL’s most dangerous duos. (USATSI)

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.