Red Wings Updates

Helene is still saying that Ericsson is the most likely to come out, so that’s what I put in the projected lines. Take that with a grain of salt, though. Frans Nielsen will also come back into the lineup. Helene speculates that Rasmussen will come out of the lineup. I have that in the projected lines, but I think that’s even less of a guarantee. I personally think that either de la Rose or Ehn will come out, but we’ll see.

UPDATE: Based on the last tweet above, it looks like Nyquist will sit out tonight.

Flyers Updates

As of now, we haven’t see any Flyers updates, so we are going to assume the same lineup as yesterday for now.

Red Wings Projected Lines

Bertuzzi - Larkin - Nyquist
Vanek - Nielsen - Mantha
Helm - Glendening - Athanasiou
Abdelkader - de la Rose - Ehn

DeKeyser - Jensen
Kronwall - Green
Hronek - Daley

Bernier
Howard

Flyers Projected Lines

van Riemsdyk - Giroux - Konecny
Lindblom - Couturier - Voracek
Laughton - Patrick - Simmonds
Bailey - Varone - Raffl

Provorov - Sanheim
Macdonald - Gostisbehere
Hagg - Gudas

Hart
Talbot

Keys to the Game

1. Mantha, Don’t Break Your Hand:

After his unnecessary play yesterday that went uncalled, the Flyers will likely be coming after Mantha today. Assuming that does happen, Mantha needs to emerge from this without breaking his hand a third time from fighting. He had a poor start to the game yesterday, but he turned it on in the third period and was a major part of the comeback. We need more of that, and less of the above play, (less = none).

2. Less of the second period, more of the third:

The second period was a tire fire for Detroit. They looked completely lost, were beaten to almost every puck, and were outscored 3-0. They outscored Philly 4-1 in the third period and looked like a much different team. It’s very clear what the problem is. Someone forgot to flip the switch from “Reverse” to “On”. Make sure that doesn’t happen today.

3. Back in Our Hronek of the Woods (I’m Sorry, I’m Trying to Delete It):

Filip Hronek will draw back into the lineup today, and Detroit needs him to play well. Our defense as a whole was very poor for most of yesterday’s game, so an infusion of youth and skating ability may be just what they need. Obviously it’s unfair to make expectations too high in his first game back in Detroit, but he should give the back end a jumpstart.

He should also take Kronwall’s spot on the power play, but I think that’s hoping for too much.