Detroit Red Wings vs Florida Panthers 1/6/23 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Florida Panthers and the Detroit Red Wings meet in NHL action from the Little Caesars Arena on Friday night.

The Florida Panthers will look to build on a 5-3 win over Arizona last time out. Matthew Tkachuk has a team-high 47 points with 20 goals and 27 assists while Brandon Montour has 30 points and Carter Verhaeghe has 31 points with Montour logging 24 assists while Verhaeghe has 18 goals of his own this season. Sergei Bobrovsky has posted a 8-12-1 record with a 3.32 GAA and 1n .894 save percentage while Spencer Knight is 9-6-3 with a 3.00 GAA and a .908 save percentage in goal for Florida this season.

The Detroit Red Wings will try to bounce back from a 5-1 loss to New Jersey in their last game. Dylan Larkin leads Detroit with 13 goals and 20 assists for his 33 points while Dominik Kubalik has 28 points with 12 goals and 16 assists. Filip Hronek has 26 points with 7 goals and 19 assists and David Perron has 27 points with 12 goals and 15 assists. Ville Husso has gone 12-7-5 with a 2.94 GAA and a .904 save percentage while Alex Nedeljkovic is 2-4-2 with a 4.09 GAA and an .880 save percentage between the pipes for Detroit this season.

Florida is 1-5 in their last 6 road games and 1-5 in their last 6 games against the Eastern Conference while the over is 11-3 in their last 14 games against a team with a winning record. Detroit is 3-8 in their last 11 games overall and 2-6 in their last 8 home games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 Friday games.

I get the case to be made either way in this game, but I’m backing Florida here. These are two teams that have been struggling in recent weeks, and the Panthers aren’t looking like the team that won the presidents trophy a couple of years ago, but they’ve flat out owned the Red Wings in the last seven meetings, winning all 7 and they’ve simply had Detroit’s number. The Wings tend to play better at home, but this is not the spot to get on track. Give me Florida.