A Sea Of Red

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
PHOTOS BY CANDICE EBLING

It wasn’t long ago that when the Detroit Red Wings visited Sunrise, FL., that there were many close games that even went into overtime’s or shootouts.

Watching Panthers future Hall of Fame Goaltender Roberto Luongo face 40 shots a game was always a treat witnessing greatness as it’s inevitable that his No.1 Jersey will eventually be hanging in the rafters at the BB&T Center.

In Detroit, the No.1 Jersey resides in the rafters at Little Caesar’s Arena.

As the Red Wings rebuild continues, these franchises appear to be headed in different directions.

Going into tonight’s clash in South Florida, the Panthers had a 6-3-4 mark with 16 points. Meanwhile, the Red Wings were 4-9-1 with nine points.

The Panthers hired Stanley Cup Championship Coach Joel Quenneville while Jeff Blashill remains at the helm for Detroit.

Florida leads the all-time series 20-17-5-6 and are 4-0-1 collecting points in each of the last five contests.

In 2018-19, Florida won the season series 3-0-1.

Florida’s last win against Detroit occurred on March 10, 2019 by hammering the Red Wings 6-1 in Sunrise.

Unfortunately, Saturday Night wouldn’t be much better as Florida skated to a dominant performance by outshooting the Red Wings 41-22 en route to a 4-0 shutout win as the rubber rats were thrown on the ice which is a Panthers tradition after a win.

Luongo’s replacement Sergei Bobrovsky, who signed as a free agent in the off-season improved his record to 6-2-3 while Red Wings netminder Jonathan Bernier dropped to 2-4-1.

The shutout was the first for Bobrovsky as a Panther and his 34th of his career.

Left-winger Jonathon Huberdeau led the Panthers with two goals defenseman Anton Stralman recorded 200th career assist. Huberdeau has nine goals for the season.

The Panthers have won five of seven to move to 7-3-4, their best 14-game start since 1996-97, when they opened 9-1-4.

On Friday Night in Carolina in a 7-3 loss to the Hurricanes in Raleigh, Bernier replaced starter Jimmy Howard.

In the past two games in South Florida, the Red Wings have been outscored 10-1 by Florida and dejected Blashill was well aware that it hasn’t been very pleasant.

“ No it hasn’t,” Blashill said. “They kicked our ass. They’re a good team. There are a lot of good teams out there. If we compete like crazy and still lose, it’s one thing. We didn’t compete like crazy. We need to find a way to compete better.”

Meanwhile, the Red Wings fell to 1-9-1 in their past 11 games.

Thankfully for the Red Wings, they have 48 hours to think about this loss as the Nashville Predators come town.

Detroit returns to The Sunshine State on December 28-29 to face these Panthers and GM Steve Yzerman’s old club the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottbm33@gmail.com.

It's Crunch Time For The Red Wings!

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
PHOTOS BY CANDICE EBLING
SUNRISE, FL


When we saw the Detroit Red Wings defeat the Florida Panthers on March 19, 2016, 5-3, it appeared that a win in South Florida could be a sign that they would be on their way to a 25th straight playoff appearance.

On this night, the Red Wings would overcome a 3-1 deficit and defeat Panthers star goaltender Roberto Luongo. He was out dueled by Red Wings netminder, Jimmy Howard, who won his second straight game.

The atmosphere at the BB&T Center was Electric as a Panthers Record 20,817 fans showed up against a team which does pack this arena.

There was a Red Wings flavor before the game as an Octopus hit the ice in Sunrise, FL.

Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwell returned to the Red Wings line-up. Red Wings Announcer Paul Woods mentioned to me before the game that Detroit was 6-7-1 without Kronwell in the line-up.

The Panthers fans got their first look at Red Wings rookie right wing Anthony Mantha (6-5, 214), age 21 1/2 years old. He was playing his third NHL Game.

The Red Wings had their fair share of challenges during the game as Florida was 33-5-6 when scoring the first goal of the game. Tack on another loss for the Panthers.

Florida was 15-6-4 when tied after the first period. Once again, add another loss for the Panthers.

The Panthers were 15-6-1 against the Atlantic Division, and the Red Wings defeat gave Florida a seventh loss.

This win earned the Red Wings a day off to spend time on the Fort Lauderdale beaches as it had time to get ready for a huge showdown with the Tampa Bay Lightning three nights later.

Red Wings Head Coach Jeff Blashill came away pleased with the offensive effort by his team.

"I thought we did a good job for the 60 minutes," Blashill said. "That was our biggest focus; we've talked about it a lot. Making sure we play 60 minutes and making sure we're resilient. And when you get scored on, just keep going.

"The one thing with the offense was we got to the net and we're going to continue to get to the net to be successful here. That's the only way you're going to score in this league over, and over and over again and we found a way to do it."

The BB&T Center may not be Joe Louis Arena, but it had a Red and White Flavor to it.

Blashill described the atmosphere as, "When we play here, there's a lot of fans who spend winters here. When we come, there's always a good crowd here; a good mix of both fans."

I've covered a lot of games between these two squads and I would estimate that at least 45% are Detroit fans and they're quite vocal.

Since the Red Wings important win versus Florida, Detroit has gone 2-3 in that stretch. Tampa Bay blew out Detroit 6-2. In these five games, Detroit has allowed 22 goals. This isn't the time for the goaltending to go South for the Spring and to end their long playoff streak.

The Philadelphia Flyers (38-25-13, 89 points) hold the Final Wild Card Spot. They have a game in hand over Detroit having played 76. In 77 games, Detroit is 38-28-11 with 87 points.

Even if the Red Wings were to overtake the Flyers, I can't imagine Detroit winning s series against the Washington Capitals, who are 54-16-6 with a 114 points.

Detroit's best chance of making the playoffs may actually be overtaking the Boston Bruins, who have also played 77 games. The Bruins are 40-29-8 with 88 points in the Eastern Conference, Atlantic Division.

If Detroit surpasses Boston, there potential match ups could include Tampa Bay or Florida. I can only imagine what the crowds will be at the BB&T Center if this occurs.

Detroit does face the Philadelphia Flyers in one of its remaining five games.

For whatever it's worth, if the Red Wings were in the Western Conference, 87 points gets them into the playoffs. The first team out as of this post is the Colorado Avalanche with 82 points in 77 games.

But GM Ken Holland would have to log some extra miles in the Western Conference. But we'll never know now.

So it will be interesting to see if this playoff streak is extended. Expect the next five games to be the most intense hockey that Red Wings fans will watch in a long time.

The Red Wings host the Minnesota Wild on Friday at the Joe Louis Arena. Then, three of the final four games are on the road. They'll face former Head Coach Mike Babcock in Toronto, Philadelphia at home then wrap-up the season on the road against Boston and the New York Rangers Finale on April 9th.

It doesn't get any tougher than this!

Nothing like controlling their own destiny and pile up as many points as possible. No need to scoreboard watch or no motivational speeches needed!

We'll see if Detroit enters it's Final Season in Joe Louis Arena with 25 consecutive post-season appearances.

If the Red Wings playoff streak comes to an end, it won't be the only steak that ends.

There will be no Canadian based teams in this year's tournament. It will be be the first time since 1970, a span of 46 years that this didn't happen.

So now, "It's Crunch Time For The Red Wings!"

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com and is a member of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association.

Tale Of Two Games Versus Florida Panthers

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

SUNRISE, FL

What a difference a few days makes.

Going into the Detroit Red Wings game against the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center on Thursday February 4, I expected a playoff type atmosphere. 

For the most part it was. There were 16, 991 fans and no shortage of Red Wings jerseys as you can see here in the pre-game skate from My Vantage Point in the Press Box. There were many "Let's Go Red Wings Chants" throughout the contest to go along with an octopus thrown onto the ice at the end of the game.

However, at the end of the game, the Florida Panthers cruised to a 6-3 win and the rubber rats also got thrown onto the ice. 

This was Florida's third straight win over Detroit dating back to March 19, 2015 here in Sunrise, a 3-1 margin.

Florida won the first meeting of the season with an overtime 2-1 triumph at The Joe Louis Arena on November 29, 2015.

There was a 2:36 minute stretch in this contest for the Panthers who scored three goals to take a 3-0 lead midway through the first period.

Rookie sensation Dylan Larkin scored a power play goal with seven seconds left in the first period off the face off to make it 3-1

In his South Florida debut, Larkin would score two goals against Panthers Goaltender Roberto Luongo,  who stopped 36 shots for his ninth straight win at home and moved past Tony Esposito into seventh on the NHL's career wins list with 424.

Another milestone came from the ageless 43-year old wonder Jaromir Jagr got his 1,100th career assist and joined five other players in NHL History: Wayne Gretzky, Ron Francis, Mark Messier, Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey.

Jagr also had a goal in the game which was his 738th, putting him three behind Brett Hull for third on the NHL list. The game was Jagr's 1,800th game which includes playoff appearances.

Jagr's big night occurred against Red Wings backup goaltender Jimmy Howard, who made 27 saves, but was saddled with his seventh consecutive loss. Howard's last win was on December 3, 2015 at home against the Arizona Coyotes.

But to Howard's credit, he was facing a red hot Florida Panthers squad. After the Red Wings game, Florida's winning streak reached five, all of them by at least three goals. 

The Panthers have scored at least five goals in each of their last four games; the first time this has happened in franchise history.

Florida improved to 16-0-1 when scoring at least four goals.

To explain the type of season Florida has had, on February 2, 2016, the Panthers appeared on National Television for the first time in 2 years on the NBC Sports Network as they won an impressive 5-2 contest on the road against the Washington Capitals.

I saw a first in this game. Red Wings Coach Jeff Blashill pulled Howard with 8:34 left in the third period while Detroit was on the power play which resulted in a Mike Green Goal. 

Former Red Wing and Panthers coach Gerard Gallant had a hard time explaining how the team has scored five goals in four straight games.

"I don't know, you know," Gallant said. "Teams go on streaks. But we're putting pucks in the net and guys are confident. It's about putting pucks in the net, skating and being confident."

While most people come to Florida for Spring Break, the Red Wings came to Florida after the All-Star Break. The night before in Tampa, Detroit dropped a 3-1 decision to the surging Tampa Bay Lightning (29-20-4) with Petr Mrazek between the pipes.

Detroit left the Sunshine State going 0-2. 

Nevertheless, Red Wings Coach Jeff Blashill Didn't Leave Sunrise, FL., with a bad taste in his mouth despite his team being down 3-0 early in the game acknowledging that this lead was too much to overcome.

"Yeah but to be honest, I thought we came out and played really well," Blashill said. I thought we played well early. I thought our battle level and compete level were really good. I thought our execution level was good for the most part.

"In the end, I was really happy with the way our guys continued to battle back and I was real happy with the effort. I was real happy with their character."

Blashill also added, " It was one of those nights from a process point I was happy with a lot of areas. That might sound funny to fans when you lose 6-3, but again anybody can come and watch the tape, and see a lot of the good things we did, and the execution was pretty good to be honest with you."

On Saturday, February 6, the Red Wings would bounce back from this loss by hammering the New York Islanders 5-1 at the Joe Louis Arena. 

Red Wings Announcer Mickey Redmond admitted during the telecast that he wasn't looking forward to Detroit facing the Panthers Monday Night.

By the end of Monday Night, Pavel Datsyuk and Mrazek allowed Redmond and Red Wings Nation to breathe easy as Detroit defeated Florida 3-0. This was a much needed win for Detroit as it seeks it's 25th straight playoff appearance.

The only numbers that mattered on Monday was Jagr reached another milestone just by stepping on the ice. The Panthers forward appeared in his 1,600th career regular season game.

Jagr was already 10th all-time in games played, but he's now 12 games behind Ray Bourque for ninth.

Red Wings legend Gordie Howe holds the all-time record with 1,767.

The other number was simply the Red Wings 3-0 shutout over Florida and Mrazek has a career-high four shutouts this season. He out played Panthers backup goaltender Al Montoya, who finished with 28 saves.

On Wednesday Night against the Ottawa Senators, Mrazek turned in another stellar performance in a 3-1 victory. The Senators lone goal occurred with 2:24 left in the third period. 

Mrazek, who turns 24, on February 14, had a shutout streak snapped at 133:29 and improved his record to 21-10-4. Going into the Ottawa game, he had a 1.97 GAA. 

This is a guy who was the 141st overall draft pick by the Red Wings in the 2010 draft.

The Red Wings return to Florida on March 19 at 7 PM and I can only imagine how intense the contest will be with playoff berths on the line.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this game.

As of this post, the Red Wings have a 28-18-8 record for 64 points and are in second place in the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. 

Meanwhile Florida is leading the Atlantic Division with a 32-16-6 mark with 70 points. .

Scott Morganroth is a member of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association and can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.