Morning Skate: Red Wings vs. Canadiens
Game 55
7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Canadiens Blog: Habs Eyes On The Prize
It's a division throwdown tonight when the Red Wings host the division leading Montreal Canadiens. I hope the Wings can get up early for this game, because the late starts and sloppy play they've exhibited far too often this season aren't going to cut it against the Habs. Montreal has had trouble scoring many goals this season, but thanks to freaking Carey Price, they're #1 in the league in goals against per game. Low scoring wins are their specialty. Carey Price will of course be in net for the Habs, and stinking puck stopping machine is not only good at stopping pucks, but he's also a dirty little cheat when it comes to initiating contact, drawing "goaltender interference" calls, getting goals waived off, and doing things like this. The Wings have the ability to beat Montreal, but they need to be on their best behavior, and I'm a little bit nervous because the Habs are good enough to make the Wings pay for any sloppy play or mistakes.
It looks like Mike Babcock may chance his lines a little bit, swapping Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist, and Drew Miller and Tomas Jurco. I hope Jurco can bring a little more offensive threat to the 4th line, and that MSU, Notre Dame, and UofM can come together and make some scoring magic. Jimmy Howard gets the start in net and has hopefully shaken most of the rust off that we saw against the Jets, because we'll need Jimmy Howard to be his stellar self tonight.
I predict a high tempo, hard fought game, and while I could see the Wings getting frustrated by Price, they must heed the words of Lord Dark Helmet..
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Tomas Tatar | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Darren Helm | Pavel Datsyuk | Gustav Nyquist |
| Drew Miller | Riley Sheahan | Luke Glendening |
| Stephen Weiss | Joakim Andersson | Tomas Jurco |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Alexey Marchenko | Brendan Smith |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Danny Cleary, Jonas Gustavsson
Injuries: Johan Franzen (headaches)
Forwards
| Max Pacioretty | David Desharnais | Dale Weise |
| Alex Galchenyuk | Tomas Plekanec | Brendan Gallagher |
| Lars Eller | Jacob De La Rose | Christian Thomas |
| Brandon Prust | Manny Malhotra | Michael Bournival |
Defensemen
| Andrei Markov | P.K. Subban |
| Nathan Beaulieu | Sergei Gonchar |
| Mike Weaver | Tom Gilbert |
Goaltenders
| Carey Price (starting) |
| Dustin Tokarski |
| CANADIENS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 36-15.4 (76 pts; 1st in East) | Record | 31-13-10 (72 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 2.58 (21st in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.93 (7th in NHL) |
| 2.22 (1st) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.43 (6th) |
| 16.8% (24th) | Power Play % | 26.3% (1st) |
| 85.2% (6th) | Penalty Kill % | 82.9% (10th) |
| Max Pacioretty (25 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (23 goals) |
| Max Pacioretty (46 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (49 points) |
- The Red Wings are 203-274.96-1 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Habs.
- Last 10 Games: Detroit 7-2-1, Montreal 7-2-1/
- Jimmy Howard is 3-3-1 with a .884 SV% and 3.21 GAA in 7 career games against the Canadiens. /