It’s been a rocky year for the Detroit Red Wings, full of ups and downs. For the second year in a row, they missed the playoffs. But they got a great haul for Tomas Tatar at the trade deadline. And they had an amazing draft. But they had a terrible start to this season.

Now, on the final day of the calendar year and just about halfway through the NHL season, the Red Wings are nine points back from the second wild card spot. After their devastating loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday, it’s hard to see how they could climb back into the playoff race at all. They’re 2-6-2 in their last 10 games. In that stretch, they’ve allowed a whopping 35 goals against, tied with Edmonton for second worst in the league and only behind the Arizona Coyotes. Their defensive deficiencies are showing now more than ever and they are getting no support from their goalies.

Florida, only two points ahead of Detroit in the standings, has had a better stretch of games, going 5-4-1 in their last 10. They are kind of in the same boat as the Red Wings, with mediocre goaltending, a lack of goal scoring, and just average defense. The last time these two teams met, the Panthers won 2-1.

After the performance the team put up in Dallas, I’m shocked that Blashill has kept these lines together. Despite Larkin’s goal, we didn’t see too much magic between him and Athanasiou. They’ll get another shot at it tonight against a weaker team up front.

On the back end, the Cholowski/Hronek pairing lives to see another day after being split up mid-game against Dallas. Hronek was put with Kronwall and they got burned twice on consecutive goals. It wasn’t a good look on either player.

While these lines look nice now, I fully expect Blashill to turn the blender on again mid-game. It’s just his style. We’ll see what they look like at the end of the game.

This is what the Panthers lines looked like at practice yesterday. They have five players who have recorded more than 30 points already this season and one who has over 40 points in Jonathan Huberdeau. Barkov is at the door with 39 points and Dadonov isn’t far behind with 35. This makes that top line deadly against a Red Wings defense that can’t get the puck out of the zone.

Hoffman has been great for the Panthers this year, putting up 18 goals and 18 assists so far, but beyond that they lose their depth in the bottom-6. They are worthy adversaries for Detroit’s bottom-6.

On the blue line, Aaron Ekblad has not been the player they hoped he would turn into after winning the Calder Trophy. He’s had some concussion issues, but mostly seems to be unable to compete against tougher opponents without a better support system. Keith Yandle leads the team defensemen in points with 32, followed by Mike Matheson who has 15.

Jimmy Howard vs. Roberto Luongo

Since Bernier kinda pooped the bed on Saturday, I would expect Howard to get the start tonight. Like Bernier, Howard has been a little shaky as of late, but he’s nice and rested now. He should be ready to face the 35+ shots that the Red Wings allow on a consistent basis.

As for Luongo, he’s been just okay this year too. The thing with Lou is that when he’s on, he’s really on. Last time these two teams played each other, Luongo turned away 34 shots, completely shutting down the Red Wings offense. The Wings need to come out strong and fire home a few right out of the gate.

Puck drop is at 7:30 P.M. ET tonight and you’ll be able to watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit or Fox Sports Florida if you’re tuning in from the warmer climate.

As always, make sure you’re following us on Twitter for all kinds of fun in-game reactions, gifs, and all the other things you’d expect from a hockey blog twitter account.

Thanks for following this team with us all year and have a very happy new year.