Tonight, the NY Islanders (24-41-8) are in town to face off against our Detroit Red Wings (49-16-9) at Joe Louis Arena. It's the first time these two teams have met since Jan. 30, 2007. A win tonight would give Detroit its fourth straight season of 50-plus points. For more on the Islanders, please check out our SBN counterpart at Lighthouse Hockey.
The Wings will enter this game with 107 points in the standings and eight games remaining. The San Jose Sharks also sit at 107 with eight contests left. Detroit has six home games left, while the Sharks have four remaining. San Jose will not play today, but will face the Phoenix Coyotes at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Defenseman Andreas Lilja will not play tonight as he is still suffering from concussion symptoms. Jiri Hudler may start the game as a center. During Thursday's practice, he was centering a line with Mikael Samuelsson and Kirk Maltby. The winger played as a center for the Grand Rapids Griffins and grew up playing that position, but has not done so while in Detroit. Chris Osgood will get the start in goal tonight.
The game is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown on FSDetroit. Go Wings!