Morning Skate: Detroit Red Wings at Vancouver Canucks - Preview, How to Watch

Time: 4:00pm ET

Place: Rogers Arena

TV: FSD

Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket, 1270 AM

Canucks blog: Nucks Misconduct

The Wings have just two games left in the entire month of January as they take on the Canucks late this afternoon. Of course, it won’t be late afternoon in Vancouver, but at least you don’t have to stay up late tonight to watch this one like you will on Tuesday when the Wings visit Edmonton.

The Canucks have played pretty well this season against expectations and find themselves in the thick of the Western wild card hunt just one point out of a spot. They score better than many of their late-coast contemporaries but also give him more goals than they score. After a 6-4 loss in Calgary on Friday, I kind of wouldn’t mind another high scoring game just because those are more-interesting to me.

Vancouver’s leading scorer is Elias Pettersson, who hasn’t played since January 3rd, but is looking healthy again and could find his way back into the lineup. They’ve gone 2-1-2 in his absence and are 5-3-2 in their last 10.

On the Wings’ side, Michael Rasmussen has been medically cleared as of yesterday’s practice, but coach Blashill said he wasn’t getting back in the lineup just yet. It’s also looking like Filip Hronek will find his way back into the rotation. The expectation is that Dennis Cholowski will sit and, while I know that’s going to bring a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, I’ve been thinking he needs a day to observe from the Cabana for a while and after his performance in Calgary on Friday, it makes perfect sense that a game off is what’s best for him and his development. Your mileage may vary.

Puck drop a little after they finish singing both the anthems today. LGRW