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7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: NBCSN, TSN2
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Wild Blog: Hockey Wilderness
Red Wings! Wild! Rivalry Night on NBC!
Nothing screams "RIVALRY!" more than a clash between longtime heated rivals Detroit and Minnesota. During the Wild's 12 seasons of existence, 46 games have been played between these two clubs. Detroit has skated away victorious 30 times, while the Wild have claimed two points only 13 times (5 of which came in OT). But hey, NBCSN wanted to pull some decent ratings so they had to put the Wings against the Wild to even attempt to move the needle any sort on the national level. The "State of Hockey" needed a boost from Hockeytown apparently.
Putting "Rivalry Night" to the side, the Wild have played well recently. They're currently in first place in the Northwest Division and will likely give the Vancouver Canucks a run for their money the rest of the way. Zach Parise is still leading the way in their goal department and Ryan Suter is tied for the team lead in scoring with 23 points. Seems like it's the least they could do since signing those $98 million contracts. Detroit, meanwhile, is looking to build upon it's two wins in Western Canada and take two points in their only home game before heading back to the west coast.
The Expected Lineup
Damien Brunner - Henrik Zetterberg - Valtteri Filppula
Johan Franzen - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader
Daniel Cleary -- Joakim Andersson -- Patrick Eaves
Drew Miller - Cory Emmerton - Jordin Tootoo
*
Niklas Kronwall - Jonathan Ericsson
Brian Lashoff - Brendan Smith
Jakub Kindl - Ian White
*
Jimmy Howard (starting)
Jonas Gustavsson
Scratches: Kent Huskins
Injuries: Kyle Quincey (cheek), Mikael Samuelsson (finger), Todd Bertuzzi (back), Darren Helm (back) and Carlo Colaiacovo (shoulder)
| WILD | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 16-10-2 (34 pts; 3rd in West) | Record | 14-10-5 (33 pts; 7th in West) |
| 2.50 (21st in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.62 (17th in NHL) |
| 2.43 (6th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.52 (9th) |
| 17.2% (18th) | Power Play % | 15.8% (22nd) |
| 85.9% (5th) | Penalty Kill % | 80.2% (18th) |
| Zach Parise (11 goals) | Goal Leader | Damien Brunner (10 goals) |
| 2 tied with 23 points | Points Leader | 2 tied with 30 points |
- The Red Wings are 30-8-3-5 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time against the Minnesota Wild.
- Minnesota has won three straight. Just like Detroit, their last victory was over Vancouver. The Wild and Canucks are tied for the Northwest Division lead.
- The Wings 0-2-1 on Wednesdays this season. The two regulation losses occurred on the road. The OT loss was at home and also happened to be "Rivalry Night" on NBCSN.
- Detroit is 7-3-0 against Northwest Division teams this season. They're 1-1-0 against the WIld.
- The last time these two teams met was February 17. The Wings fell to the Wild 3-2. It was part of Detroit's season high 5 game losing streak. The Wings had goals from Brunner and Datsyuk and blew up a 2-0 lead.
- Detroit is 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. Minnesota is 7-3-0.
- Howard is 9-2-2 with a 1.96 GAA and .917 SV% with 1 shutout in 13 career starts against the Wild.