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Detroit Red Wings (6-4-0, 3rd Atlantic Division) vs.
Philadelphia Flyers (4-5-1, 6th Metropolitan Division)
How To Watch/Listen/Read
Puck Drop: 8:00pm EST
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Flyers SB Nation Blog: Broad Street Hockey
The Red Wings got a much needed couple days off after a couple dismal games this past weekend. Some would say the Wings finally flew fell off the cliff after a six game winning streak, where their possession stats pointed to imminent doom.
A flat effort against Boston was followed by disaster the next day when the Panthers were able to chase Petr Mrazek with 4 goals on just 10 shots.
This will mark the fourth game without surprise early point leader Thomas Vanek. The Wings have struggled defensively this entire young season but the offensive spark of Vanek—mostly on the power play—seemed to bail them out. With him gone with a lower body injury, a sinkhole effect has opened up through the middle six. Whether it be on the second line with Nyquist or third line with Athanasiou, Vanek’s passing through the neutral zone and excellent work deep in the offensive zone made his linemates better.
The Flyers are a better team than the record after 10 games indicates. They have some very young but talented pieces.
Jake Voracek has reemerged as high-scoring winger following a disappointing 15-16 with 10 points in his first 10 games. Voracek’s linemate, Travis Konecy has come straight from Sarnia of the OHL, getting seven points in his first 10 career games.
Konecy is one of two rookies to watch in this Flyers lineup. The other is defenseman Ivan Provorov. A top 10 pick in the 2015 draft, Provorov made the Flyers out of camp and already has five points in 10 games. He’s fit right into the Flyers puck moving defense with last year’s rookie darling, Shayne Gostisbehere, Nick Shultz and veteran Mark Streit.
Red Wings Projected Lineup, Injuries and Scratches
(Courtesey of Martin Frk’s no.1 fan, Mlive’s Ansar Khan)
Forwards
Nyquist-Nielsen-Larkin
Tatar-Zetterberg-Abdelkader
Athanasiou-Helm-Sheahan
Miller-Glendening-Ott
Defense
DeKeyser-Green
Ericsson-Marchenko
Smith-Ouellet
Starter
Petr Mrazek
Power Play
(No projections reported from practice, assume no significant changes)
Injuries, Scratches
Thomas Vanek (lower body, day to day), Ryan Sproul, Jimmy Howard (backup)
Blashill has put the top two lines in a blender hoping whatever smoothie comes out will work. Note Zetterberg and Abdelkader are officially back together which means a lot of work for Tatar.
Blashill has yet to name in official starter in net, but Mrazek took the starter’s net in practice. He also hinted the defensive pairings have not been finalized. We’ll have updates after the morning skate.
Flyers Projected Lineup, Injuries and Scratches
Forwards
Brayden Schenn-Claude Giroux-Wayne Simmonds
Travis Konecy-Sean Couturier-Jakub Voracek
Roman Lyubimov-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Matt Read
Chris VandeVelde-Nick Cousins-Dale Weise
Defense
Shayne Gostisbehere-Nick Schultz
Ivan Provorov-Mark Streit
Radko Gudas-Brandon Manning
Power Play
Unit 1- Schenn-Giroux-Simmonds-Vorachek-Streit
Unit 2- Konecy-Couturier-Read-Provorov-Gostisbehere
Starter
Michal Neuvirth
Injuries and Scratches
Boyd Gordon (day-to-day, undisclosed injury), Michael Raffl (day-to-day, abdominal strain), Andrew MacDonald, Steve Mason (backup)
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Game Day Prediction Contest
Would you like to predict the outcome of the game and potentially become internet famous? Well you're in luck, because here's your opportunity. Here's how it works.
Make your game predictions on the winning team, final score, and who the Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated in the questions. If you don't use those formats, your answers will be disregarded. All submissions are timestamped and will be accepted only until the official game start time. All other submissions after that will be disregarded. Only one submission per person, please. POTG will be determined by the collective of WiiM writers.
Each correct winning team prediction is worth 1 point. Each correct player of the game prediction is worth 2 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct you'll receive 15 points.