Blue Jackets at Red Wings: Gameday Updates, Line Combinations, Key Matchups
The Red Wings defense gets a body back tonight. Nicklas Kronwall is officially good to go and will play for the first time in over a month.
UPDATE: The #RedWings have assigned Jakub Kindl to the @griffinshockey; we've activated Niklas Kronwall from IR. pic.twitter.com/v2hIdhQq8f
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 23, 2016
So the defensive pairs are expected to be the same as posted in the morning skate. The offense, however, I don't know what Jeff Blashill is thinking. The Wings are struggling to score... so let's move Luke Glendening up? I thought they had a good thing going with the Darren Helm-Glendening-Riley Sheahan line. It felt like that could be an impactful 4th line. One thing I do agree with is moving Brad Richards down the lineup, but I didn't want Andreas Athanasiou down there with him.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh well... at this point, who cares what the lines are. Just score some damn goals and win the damn game.
Line Combinations
Red Wings Lineup
Forwards
| Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk | Gus Nyquist |
| Tomas Tatar | Dylan Larkin | Justin Abdelkader |
| Darren Helm | Luke Glendening | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Riley Sheahan | Andreas Athanasiou | Brad Richards |
Defensemen
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Niklas Kronwall | Alexey Marchenko |
| Brendan Smith | Mike Green |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Tomas Jurco
Injuries: Johan Franzen, Drew Miller, Jonathan Ericsson
Power-play units:
- Nyquist-Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Abdelkader (net front)-Kronwall
- Pulkkinen-Tatar-Larkin (net front)-Richards-Green
Jackets Lineup
Forwards
| Scott Hartnell | Alexander Wennberg | Brandon Saad |
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Matt Calvert | William Karlsson | Nick Foligno |
| Kerby Rychel | Gregory Campbell | Rene Bourque |
Defensemen
| Ryan Murray | Seth Jones |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Fedor Tyutin | Dalton Prout |
Goaltenders
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Fun Facts!
Red Wings all-time record against Columbus: 52-19-1-8 (W-L-T-OTL)
Red Wings goals for per game (GF/G) against the Jackets: 3.18
Red Wings goals against per game (GA/G) against the Jackets: 2.28
Key Matchups
Red Wings offense vs Korpisalo/McElhinney
The Blue Jackets give up a league worst 3.08 goals per game. That should be music to the Wings' ears as they've struggle to score and were shut out for the very first time last game in New York. I want to see 5 goals tonight and a offense that starts clicking before our outdoor adventure this weekend.
Jeff Blashill vs Himself
Please stop playing Glendening 18 minutes a night and only giving Athanasiou around 7 minutes. You don't need to crush Datsyuk and Zetteberg either. Those guys are old. Trust your young, offensively talented players. Larkin needs to play more than 11:41 a night. Tatar and Nyquist need to play more than 11 minutes a night too. Yes, I know special teams play may have impacted these times from last game, but the writing is on the wall. Let's not be Mike Babcock 2.0. Trust your good, young players to get the job done.
Let's Go Red Wings.