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Morning Skate: Ducks at Red Wings Game 3 Preview

By J.J. from Kansas
Here comes a block.
Here comes a block.
Harry How

7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, MI

TV: Fox Sports Detroit, NBCSN, TSN, RDS2

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Ducks Blogs: Anaheim Calling & Battle of California

Detroit Red Wings Tickets

The Wings have taken away the Ducks' home ice advantage with their Game 2 win. If they hold serve at home, the series is theirs. That's much easier said than done.

The matchup choice belongs to Babcock in this one. I'll be interested to see if he uses Datsyuk and Zetterberg head-to-head against Getzlaf and Perry or if he allows Boudreau's preferred matchup, since that got the Wings the win to even the series. He's going to have to find an answer for Anaheim's fourth line, which has consistently driven possession.

So far, special teams have made the difference in both games. The Wings need to play a more-controlled game. They started game 2 very well, and not just on the scoreboard. The Wings didn't try to force control out of the zone. When the forecheck threatened to hem them in, they made sure to do the simple play and get the puck out of the zone to force the Ducks to reset. This ended up giving them more room as they frustrated the forecheck by throwing off the timing. I'd like more of that.

The Expected Lineup

Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader

Johan Franzen - Valtteri Filppula - Daniel Cleary

Gustav Nyquist - Joakim Andersson - Damien Brunner

Patrick Eaves - Cory Emmerton - Todd Bertuzzi

*

Niklas Kronwall - Jonathan Ericsson

Brendan Smith - Kyle Quincey

Brian Lashoff - Jakub Kindl

*

Jimmy Howard (starting)

Jonas Gustavsson

Scratches: Ian White, Jordin Tootoo and Carlo Colaiacovo

Injuries: Drew Miller (hand), Mikael Samuelsson (upper body), Danny DeKeyser (broken thumb) and Darren Helm (back)

  • The Red Wings are 15-12 (W-L) all-time against the Anaheim Ducks in the postseason.
  • Anaheim last played a Game 3 in 2011 against the Predators. The Ducks lost 4-3. Jordin Tootoo scored in that game for Nashville.
  • The Wings are 0-0 all-time against the Anaheim Ducks when Danny DeKeyser is injured with a broken thumb.
  • Last time these two teams met in a Game 3 was May 5, 2009. The Ducks took that game 2-1 in Anaheim. Jonas Hiller made 45 saves and was only beaten by Henrik Zetterberg on the power play.
  • Bruce Boudreau probably has high cholesterol
Prediction: That's more of a Jeff thing.


Let's Go Red Wings.