Calgary Flames at Detroit Red Wings, Projected Lineup, How to Watch

7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, MI

TV: NHLN, FSD

Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM CBS Sports Radio

Flames Blog: Matchsticks and Gasoline

The Red Wings come into their game tonight with the Calgary Flames very well rested after having four days off. Wait, what…that scrimmage looking event on Friday with Washington was actually a meaningful hockey game? That is a surprise to me, and judging by the listless and uninspired way they played on Friday it may have been a surprise to the Wings as well.

The Wings come into this game having only won two out of their last ten games since rattling off six wins in their first eight. There is some good news though. As bad as the Wings have looked at times this season Calgary has looked worse. On top of that early season offensive catalyst Thomas Vanek is expected to return to the lineup tonight after missing the last 11 with a hip injury. It will be interesting to see how the lineup shakes out for this one.

For the Flames this season is starting to feel like the same old song for them. Injuries, inconsistencies and goaltender concerns put them near the bottom of the Western Conference but, similarly to the Red Wings, only three points out of third place in their division (the Wings are four points back of third place Ottawa). The loss of Johnny Gaudreau to a broken finger hurts their offense and they cannot seem to keep the puck out of their own net. This is an opportunity for the Red Wings, particularly their struggling power play, to find their offensive game. Here is hoping they remember to tell the team that this is not a scrimmage.

I took my best guess at what Blashill could do with the lines based on some combinations that have found success in the past. Hopefully we will have a better idea after the morning skate.

Red Wings Lineup

Forwards

Dylan Larkin	Henrik Zetterberg	Justin Abdelkader
Gustav Nyquist	Frans Nielsen	Thomas Vanek
Tomas Tatar	Riley Sheahan	Anthony Mantha
Tyler Bertuzzi	Luke Glendening	Steve Ott

Defensemen

Danny DeKesyer	Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson	Alexey Marchenko
Niklas Kronwall	Ryan Sproul

Goaltenders

Petr Mrazek

Jimmy Howard

Scratches: Xavier Ouellet, Drew Miller

Injuries: Darren Helm (shoulder), Andreas Athansiou (sprained knee), Tomas Jurco (back), Johan Franzen (concussion), Joe Vitale (concussion)

Flames Lineup

Forwards

Sam Bennett	Sean Monahan	Troy Brouwer
Matthew Tkachuk	Mikael Backlund	Michael Frolik
Matt Stajan	Linden Vey	Alex Chaisson
Michael Ferland	Freddie Hamilton	Garnet Hathaway

Defensemen

Mark Giordano	Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie	Dennis Wideman
Brett Kulak	Deryk Engelland

Goaltenders

Brian Elliott

Chad Johnson

RED WINGS	THE MATCHUP	FLAMES
8-9-1 (17 pts, t6th in Atlantic)	Record	7-11-1 (15 pts; t5th in Pacific)
2.44 (19th in NHL)	Goals Per Game	2.31 (20th in NHL)
2.67 (18th)	Goals Against Per Game	3.31 (29th)
16.4% (t16th)	Power Play %	9.0% (30th)
77.8% (26th)	Penalty Kill %	73.9% (29th)
31.8 (t23rd)	Shots Against Per Game	28.0 (7th)
51.6% (6th)	Faceoff Won %	50.9% (11th)
Dylan Larkin (5)	Goals Leader	Michael Frolik (6)
Zetterberg/Green/Nyquist  (11)	Points Leader	Michael Frolik (12)

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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.