The Detroit Red Wings (47-15-9) will face off against the Atlanta Thrashers (29-36-6) tonight at the Philips Arena.
Valtteri Filppula's status for today's game is questionable so we probably won't know if he'll play until shortly before the puck drops. However, we do know that Tomas Holmstrom will not be in the lineup due to a knee injury. Unfortunately, defenseman Andreas Lilja is still out with headaches and his return is unknown.
The lines during Thursday's practice were as follows:
Franzen-Datsyuk-Samuelsson
Cleary-Zetterberg-Hossa
Hudler-Filppula-Kopecky
Meech-Draper-Maltby
Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Lebda-Ericsson
As you can see, Derek Meech will play as a forward to fill in for Holmstrom's absence. If Filppula is unable to play, then defenseman Chris Chelios will dress. Yes, that doesn't seem to work since Filppula is a forward and Cheli is not. However, the Wings do not have the cap space to allow the team to call up a forward from Grand Rapids so they will have to make do tonight.
Chris Osgood will start in net for the Wings for the fourth straight game after his solid play over the past few games.
The interesting story of the night will be Marian Hossa's first game back in Atlanta since he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins by last season's trade deadline.
The game starts at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown on FSDetroit. I will be working the CCHA hockey tournament at Joe Louis Arena all day Friday and Saturday. As a result, I will be unable to comment during the game or write a game recap following the game. Even though I'm not here, please feel free to leave your comments about the game. Go Wings!