The Red Wings' three-game Western Canadian road trip wraps up this evening and the schedulemakers have saved the best for last against Detroit. Mike Babcock's crew meets the Vancouver Canucks in their barn tonight sporting a 5-0-1 home record and winners of five straight overall. As much as the Canucks are the tightest competition the Wings will have to face on this trip after allowing only 2 goals to both Calgary and Edmonton combined, the Wings will also be the toughest competition Vancouver has faced since they started their winning streak.
For the Canucks, they have the best set of identical twins in hockey who always seem to give Datsyuk and Zetterberg the most trouble of any other duo in the league. I'd really like to see the second line get back to their out-of-the-gate dominating ways and lend a hand on the scoreboard. Whatever-the-opposite-of-venerable-is cheap-shot artist Raffi Torres is only two games removed from a hat trick against Edmonton on Tuesday and Rick "They call me fan-shaker (mur-derah)" Rypien is eligible to return tonight from his six-game suspension for trying to aggressively help a fan to stop looking like a tool by untucking his jersey for him.
Lineup after the jump.
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi
Abdelkader-Modano-Cleary
Miller-Helm-Hudler or Eaves
Lidstrom-Ericsson
Kronwall-Stuart
Kindl-Salei
Howard (starting)
MacDonald