7:30p ET, Belle Centre
Montreal, Quebec
TV: FS-D
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM CBS Sports Radio
Canadiens Blog: Eyes on the Prize
The Red Wings enter play tonight with only 11 games remaining in the season after a 2-1 lose to the Buffalo Sabres last night. As has been the case many times this season it seems (thanks condensed schedule) there is no rest for the Red Wings as they make the trek north from Detroit to Montreal to take on the first place Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens are led in goals and points by Max Pacioretty, everything in goal by Carey Price and in grit by former Red Wing Steve Ott. The Canadiens have not so quietly acquired quite the collection of players detested by Red Wings fans. One has to wonder if Montreal, who is only four points up on second place Ottawa, finds themselves behind early in this one will Steve Ott use his famous “pick a fight and get punched in the face a whole bunch of times” technique to rally them as he did more than once with the Red Wings this season (this is, of course, assuming he is actually in the lineup tonight).
On the Red Wings front, Tomas Nosek made his season debut last night and by most accounts looked well in his 10 minutes of playing time. With Darren Helm out until at least Friday, Nosek will likely get the go again tonight. With Petr Mrazek getting the go in net last night the assumption is Jimmy Howard will be in the net tonight.
Expected Lineups
Red Wings
Forwards
| Tomas Tatar | Henrik Zetterberg | Gustav Nyquist |
| Anthony Mantha | Frans Nielsen | Riley Sheahan |
| Andreas Athanasiou | Dylan Larkin | Justin Abdelkader |
| Luke Glendening | Tomas Nosek | Drew Miller |
Defensemen
| Dan DeKeyser | Nick Jensen |
| Niklas Kronwall | Mike Green |
| Xavier Ouellet | Robbie Russo |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: None
Injuries: Mitch Callahan, Darren Helm, Ryan Sproul, Jonathan Ericsson, Johan Franzen (LTIR), Joe Vitale (LTIR)
Canadiens
Forwards
| Max Pacioretty | Alex Galchenyuk | Alexander Radulov |
| Paul Byron | Tomas Plekanec | Brendan Gallagher |
| Artturi Lehkonenr | Phillip Danault | Andrew Shaw |
| Dwight King | Steve Ott | Torrey Mitchell |
Defensemen
| Andrei Markov | Shea Weber |
| Brandon Davidson | Jeff Petry |
| Nathan Beaulieu | Jordie Benn |
Goaltenders
| Carey Price |
| Al Montoya |
Scratches/Injuries: Charlie Hudon
The Matchup
| Red Wings | Stat | Canadiens |
| 28-32-11 (67 pts, 8th in Atlantic) | Record | 41-23-8 (90 pts, 1st in Atlantic) |
| 2.41 (26th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.47 (7th in NHL) |
| 3.00 (25th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.47 (7th) |
| 13.8 (t28th) | Power Play % | 20.1 (12th) |
| 82.0 (11th) | Penalty Kill % | 80.7 (t15th) |
| 28.2 (26th) | Shots For Per Game | 29.9 (20th) |
| 30.4 (t16th) | Shots Against Per Game | 29.8 (t10th) |
| 52.1 (5th) | Faceoff % | 50.0 (15th) |
| Tomas Tatar (21) | Goals Leader | Max Pacioretty (33) |
| Henrik Zetterberg (60) | Points Leader | Max Pacioretty (60) |
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Game Day Prediction Contest
Would you like to predict the outcome of
the game and potentially become internet famous? Well you’re in luck,
because here’s your opportunity. Here’s how it works.
Make your game predictions on the winning
team, final score, and who the Wings player of the game will be. Enter
the required information into the form below using the formats
indicated in the questions. If you don’t use those formats, your
answers will be disregarded. All submissions are timestamped and will
be accepted only until the official game start time. All other
submissions after that will be disregarded. Only one submission per
person, please. POTG will be determined by the collective of WiiM
writers.
Each correct winning team prediction is
worth 1 point. Each correct player of the game prediction is worth 2
points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you
get all three correct you’ll receive 15 points.
