Gameday Updates: Red Wings @ Devils, Updates, Lineups, Keys to the Game

On the Devils’ side we’ve got a return from injury for the guy that the San Jose Sharks once wanted to draft so bad they gave up the Tyler Bertuzzi draft pick to move up and select (Detroit took Anthony Mantha two picks later):

It’s unclear whether Mueller will find his way back into the lineup immediately, but he’s played pretty well for New Jersey so far this season.

Also, fun with history!

On the Wings side of things:

And of course with the back-to-back, they hand Mrazek the roadie to let Howard start tomorrow at home:

And it’s time to play waiver dance again!

Honestly, we’re still guessing on the forward lines, but Booth could technically play tonight. Don’t be surprised if he sits and Ouellet plays as the 7th d-man though.

DETROIT RED WINGS

Anthony Mantha – Henrik Zetterberg – Gustav Nyquist
Tyler Bertuzzi – Dylan Larkin – Andreas Athanasiou
Tomas Tatar – Frans Nielsen – Martin Frk
Luke Witkowski –– Dominic Turgeon –– David Booth

Danny DeKeyser – Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson – Nick Jensen
Niklas Kronwall – Joe Hicketts

Petr Mrazek
Jimmy Howard

New Jersey Devils

Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Marcus Johansson - Travis Zajac - Drew Stafford
Miles Wood - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri
Blake Coleman - Brian Boyle - Stefan Noesen

Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen
John Moore - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy

Cory Schneider
Ken Appleby

Keys to the Game

Kill the penalties

We gave up two powerplay goals to the Hurricanes and you can tell the PK units are still adjusting to the shuffles. I expect them to tighten up this game, and the Devils powerplay is fairly strong so it’ll be a challenge. I’d say don’t take penalties, but that’s not really our style.

Tiny Tank

Joe Hicketts is here to be tall and deal out hits, and he’s all out of being tall. He’s short, he’s light, but he’s not easy to push around. Probably because most players can’t actually see him coming because they aren’t looking down. He’ll need to be smart though and be sure not to end up in the box, or end up out of position in favor of showing that #grit.

ManthaMania

Mantha’s about due to go on a scoring tear, according to my extensive research. And by extensive research I mean no research and just general feelings. I want all the kids to score goals all the time, but for tonight I’ll be keeping my eye on Mantha to dazzle.

Let’s Go Red Wings!