Gameday Updates: Nashville Predators @ Detroit Red Wings Line Combinations, Key Matchups

A couple changes to the lineup from last game, as the OMG line is back and Larkin is back on Wing while Blashill tries to find a combination of forwards to work around the Nyquist-Helm-Vanek line. Also on defense:

Looks like Sproul might be in. He skated with Smith and is practicing on second PP unit. #RedWings

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) October 21, 2016

Line Combinations

Forwards

Tomas Tatar	Henrik Zetterberg	Riley Sheahan
Justin Abdelkader	Frans Nielsen	Dylan Larkin
Gustav Nyquist	Darren Helm	Tomas Vanek
Steve Ott	Luke Glendening	Drew Miller

Defensemen

Danny DeKeyser	Mike Green
Brendan Smith	Ryan Sproul
Jonathan Ericsson	Alexey Marchenko

Goaltenders

Petr Mrazek (starting)

Jimmy Howard

Power Play units:

1. Tatar-Nielsen-Zetterberg, Vanek (net front), Green
2. Nyquist-Larkin-Sheahan, Abdelkader (net front), Sproul

Predators Line Combinations

Forwards

Calle Jarnkrok	Ryan Johnansen	James Neal
Filip Forsberg	Mike Ribeiro	Craig Smith
Colin Wilson	Mike Fisher	Viktor Arvidsson
Cody Bass	Colton Sissons	Kevin FIala

Defensemen

Roman Josi	P.K. Subban
Mattias Ekholm	Ryan Ellis
Matt Carle	Yannick Weber

Goaltenders

Pekka Rinne (starting)

Marek Mazanec

Keys to the Game:

Stay Out of the Penalty Box

As I mentioned in the Morning Skate article, Nashville has not scored a ton so far this season and almost all of their goals have come with the man advantage (seven goals total, five with the man advantage in three games). This is not great news for a Wings team that is giving up close to four power plays a game right now and has already ceded multiple 5-on-3 opportunities over their first four games.

Odd Men Out

Odd man rushes have been an issue in this early season for the Wings. It is not too unreasonable to say that without the play of both Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard the Wings could easily be sitting at 0-4-0. Some of the odd man rushes they have given up have been a direct result of the Wings attempts to play more aggressive in the offensive zone as well as on the forecheck Since they have played their best hockey of this young season when they are playing this aggressive style they have to cut out the unforced turnovers and poor line changes that result in even more odd man situations.

Scoring from the Scoring Lines

The Wings have 12 goals on the season. Of those 12, exactly one is from a "Top six" forward. As great as the Helm line has been playing so far, if the Wings are going to be a playoff contender this year they need to be supplementing the team’s offense not carrying it. The Larkin line in particular needs to find the back of the net.