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We don’t know the status of Thomas Vanek and probably won’t until gametime, so if he’s not good to go after having a Blue Jackets player fall on his ankle last night, expect either Tomas Jurco or Steve Ott to climb back into the lineup on the fourth line with a bit of juggling above to try and replace the team’s leading goalscorer.
Red Wings Expected Lineup
| FORWARDS | ||
| Gus Nyquist | Henrik Zetterberg | Anthony Mantha |
| Andreas Athanasiou | Darren Helm | Thomas Vanek |
| Tomas Tatar | Frans Nielsen | Dylan Larkin |
| Justin Abdelkader | Luke Glendening | Riley Sheahan |
| DEFENSE | ||
| Danny DeKeyser | Mike Green | |
| Nick Jensen | Brendan Smith | |
| Ryan Sproul | Xavier Ouellet | |
| GOALIES | ||
| Petr Mrazek | ||
| Jared Coreau |
Wild Expected Lineup
| FORWARDS | ||
| Nino Niederreiter | Eric Staal | Charlie Coyle |
| Jason Zucker | Mikko Koivu | Mikael Granlund |
| Zach Parise | Erik Haula | Jason Pominville |
| Chris Stewart | Tyler Graovac | Jordan Schroeder |
| DEFENSE | ||
| Ryan Suter | Jared Spurgeon | |
| Marco Scandella | Mathew Dumba | |
| Gustav Olofsson | Christian Folin | |
| GOALIE | ||
| Devan Dubnyk | ||
| Darcy Kuemper |
Key Matchups
Detroit’s Youngsters vs. NHL Elite - The Red Wings are in the middle of a very tough stretch of games. Players like Ryan Sproul and Nick Jensen are facing difficult match-ups every game and this afternoon will not be an exception. The Wild have three strong lines that will put a lot of pressure on the young Detroit defense. Hopefully games like this one can be positive growing opportunities for the future of the Wings.
Special Teams - The Detroit power play has been improving over the last few games. Converting on the man advantage is key for Detroit to stay in games against the NHL’s best.
Hockeytown > State of Hockey - If you believe it then it must be true.