Morning Skate: Red Wings vs Rangers, Projected Lineups, How to Watch

By ZeeDad88 Nov 24, 2017, 7:00am CST

NHL: New York Rangers at Detroit Red Wings

Time: 7:00 PM ET

Place: Madison Square Garden

TV: FS-D, MSG 2

Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket, 1270 AM, ESPN NY 98.7 FM

The Breakdown

The Red Wings (10-9-3) were embarrassed on home ice Wednesday night, 6-2, by a reeling Oilers squad that came in on the second half of a back-to-back (not a bright spot for the Wings to say the least). Connor McDavid and Co. certainly got the best of a Wings team that appeared to be overmatched in the 2nd and 3rd periods leading many to wonder if this is the team we expected to see dawning the Red and White this season? Now, the Wings travel to the Big Apple for the first game of a back-to-back and take on a Rangers (11-9-2) that is on the outside looking in at the playoff picture despite having one more point than the Wings. This will be no easy test for the boys in red as the Rangers have won eight of their last 10 games and are 8-4-2 at MSG this season.

Expect another tight matchup between these two teams as five of their last 10 meetings have required overtime (I’m sure the fans won’t mind some free hockey). Detroit holds the upper hand in those last 10 games with a 4-3-3 record overall and goals have been hard to come by as the Rangers have outscored the Wings 22-16 in that span.

The young stars in Detroit will certainly look to build on their strong campaigns as Dylan Larkin (20 points) and Anthony Mantha (19 points) lead the charge into MSG. The WIngs’ defense will have a tough task in slowing down Mika Zibanejad (22 points) — the Swede has points in three of his last four games including three goals in that stretch.

Injuries

Scott Wilson left Wednesday’s game with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot. His status for tonight’s game remains unclear. Martin Frk continues to nurse a groin injury. Both practiced yesterday morning, but we don’t know if they’re good to go for tonight. The Wings are down a few forwards (thanks in part to Luke Witkowski playing Goliath last week against the Flames), so David Booth might see time on the fourth line after previously clearing waivers earlier this month, or they will have to go to the well and call somebody up from Grand Rapids...maybe Tyler Bertuzzi or Eric Tangradi? Jeff Blashill roled with seven defensemen the other night, but I can’t imagine that continues if Wilson’s health is in question.

The Rangers will be without captain Ryan McDonagh again on Friday night as he sat out Wednesday’s game in Carolina with an abdominal strain. The plan is to re-evaluate him on Sunday — perhaps this is a break for the Wings that they can take advantage of? We will keep you posted on any injury updates following the morning skate...

Projected Lineups

Red Wings Lineup

Gustav Nyquist — Henrik Zetterberg — Anthony Mantha

Tomas Tatar — Dylan Larkin — Justin Abdelkader

Darren Helm — Frans Nielsen — Luke Glendening

David Booth — Andreas Athanasiou — Scott Wilson (maybe?)

Jonathan Ericsson — Trevor Daley

Danny DeKeyser — Nick Jensen

Niklas Kronwall — Mike Green

Xavier Ouellet

Jimmy Howard

Petr Mrazek

Rangers Lineup

Chris Kreider — Mika Zibanejad — Pavel Buchnevich

Rick Nash — Kevin Hayes — Jesper Fast

Michael Grabner — J.T. Miller — Mats Zuccarello

Jimmy Vesey — Boo Nieves — Paul Carey

Brendan Smith — Nick Holden

Brady Skjei — Kevin Shattenkirk

Marc Staal — Steven Kampfer

Henrik Lundqvist

Ondrej Pavelec

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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.

First off, if you don't have an SBN Username, make one! We'd love to have you, plus it's much easier to track your predictions season-long. Then make your guess on the winning team, final score, and who the Red Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated. 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. Only one submission per person, please. The Red Wings 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 3 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct, you'll receive 15 points.

Good luck!