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9:00p ET, Pepsi Center
Denver, CO
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Avalanche Blog: Mile High Hockey
Last night was a dumpster fire full of burning piles of crap. This team can't afford to waste points like that. Blah, blah, blah… it's the same old song and dance. We're going to be on the edge of the playoffs from here on out. It just really sucks to be here. If the Red Wings lose to the Avalanche tonight, all hell might (and probably will) break loose among our fan base.
It's going to be a total overhaul on the blue line tonight. All three defenseman that sat against Phoenix -- Ian White, Kyle Quincey and Danny DeKeyser -- will be in the lineup. No word on who sits in their place. If it was my choice, Carlo Colaiavoco, Jakub Kindl and Brendan Smith would get the night off. Smith could really use it. He has been pretty turnover prone lately and it might help to watch the game from above. Ditto with Kindl. It will be interesting to see what DeKeyser can bring in his NHL debut. I hope for all our sake's that he lives up to the hype. He doesn't have to be Nicklas Lidstrom, but he better not be Brett Lebda. Upfront the lineup will remain the same unless Damien Brunner is able to play. If Brunner can go, Patrick Eaves will likely be the healthy scratch.
The Expected Lineup
Johan Franzen - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader
Valtteri Filppula - Henrik Zetterberg - Daniel Cleary
Gustav Nyquist -- Joakim Andersson -- Drew Miller
Patrick Eaves - Cory Emmerton - Jordin Tootoo
*
Niklas Kronwall - Jonathan Ericsson
Danny DeKeyser - Kyle Quincey
Ian White - Brian Lashoff
*
Jimmy Howard (starting)
Jonas Gustavsson
Scratches: Carlo Colaiacovo, Brendan Smith, Jakub Kindl and Damien Brunner
Injuries: Mikael Samuelsson (upper body), Kyle Quincey (cheek), Todd Bertuzzi (back) and Darren Helm (back)
| RED WINGS | THE MATCH-UP | AVALANCHE |
| 18-14-5 (41 pts; 7th in West) | Record | 12-20-4 (28 pts; 15th in West) |
| 2.54 (20th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.39 (25th in NHL) |
| 2.60 (14th) | Goals Against Per Game | 3.14 (28th) |
| 18.3% (16th) | Power Play % | 15.2% (23rd) |
| 79.2% (22nd) | Penalty Kill % | 79.7% (21st) |
| 2 tied with 11 goals | Goal Leader | Matt Duchene (15 goals) |
| Pavel Datsyuk (36 points) | Points Leader | P.A. Parenteau (36 points |
- The Red Wings are 61-41-5-5 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time against the Colorado Avalanche franchise.
- Detroit is 6-3-0 in the 2nd night of back-to-back games.
- The Wings are 4-1-0 on Fridays this season.
- The last time these two teams met was Monday. The Red Wings squeaked out a 3-2 win after leading 3-0. Cleary, Abdelkader and Brunner were your goal scorers.
- Detroit is 6-4-0 in their last 10 games. Colorado is 2-8-0.
- Howard is 6-2-1 with a 2.59 GAA and .905 SV% in 10 career regular starts against the Avalanche.