Jonas-Gustavsson-12-6-13

Jonas Gustavsson is the first Red Wings goaltender to earn points in each of his first nine starts of the season since 2000-01.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT – Jonas Gustavsson’s strong play for the Detroit Red Wings has earned him back-to-back starts for the second time in seven games.

Gustavsson will be in goal tonight when the Red Wings face the Florida Panthers at Joe Louis Arena (7 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit Plus).

He figures to be a little busier than he was in Friday's 3-1 victory at New Jersey, when he faced only 11 shots to raise his record to 8-0-1.

Gustavsson is the first Red Wings goaltender to earn points in his first nine starts of the season since Manny Legace in 2000-01. Gustavsson also is the first Swedish goalie to do so (Anaheim’s Viktor Fasth earned points in his first eight starts last season).

Gustavsson has a 2.04 goals-against average and .928 save percentage.

Jimmy Howard (6-8-6, 2.70 GAA, .909 save percentage) has struggled since early November, going 1-4-4.

The Red Wings will start tonight's game with the same lines and defense pairs they used Friday:

Gustav Nyquist-Johan Franzen-Todd Bertuzzi

Justin Abdelkader-Stephen Weiss-Daniel Alfredsson

Drew Miller- Joakim Andersson-Tomas Tatar

Daniel Cleary-Cory Emmerton-Mikael Samuelsson

Jonathan Ericsson-Niklas Kronwall

Kyle Quincey-Brendan Smith

Brian Lashoff-Jakub Kindl

Jonas Gustavsson (starting)

Jimmy Howard