Will Tyler Johnson play? That’s the million dollar question for tonight’s game. It appears we won’t know until right before puck drop.
Johnson said he feels pretty good but will decide tonight if he’ll play #TBLightning
— Joe Smith (@TBTimes_JSmith) April 13, 2016
Would think if Johnson can’t go, Marchessault slots in for him. But otherwise he was last #TBLightning player on ice for skate.
— Joe Smith (@TBTimes_JSmith) April 13, 2016
Things appear to be status quo for the Wings.
Judging by morning skate no lineup changes..
— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) April 13, 2016
Detroit Line Combinations
Forwards
| Justin Abdelkader | Pavel Datsyuk | Henrik Zetterberg |
| Gus Nyquist | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Tatar |
| Darren Helm | Brad Richards | Dylan Larkin |
| Andreas Athanasiou | Luke Glendening | Joakim Andersson |
Defensemen
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Niklas Kronwall | Alexey Marchenko |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Mike Green |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Power Play units:
- Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Abdelkader, Nyquist-Kronwall
- Tatar-Sheahan-Larkin, Richards-Green
Tampa Bay Line Combinations
Forwards
| Alex Killorn | Tyler Johnson | Nikita Kucherov |
| Ondrej Palat | Valtteri Filppula | Jonathan Drouin |
| J.T. Brown | Cedric Paquette | Ryan Callahan |
| Mike Blunden | Vladislav Namestnikov | Brian Boyle |
Defensemen
| Victor Hedman | Matt Carle |
| Jason Garrison | Andrej Sustr |
| Braydon Coburn | Nikita Nesterov |
Goaltenders
| Ben Bishop (starting) |
| Andrei Vasilevskiy |
Key to the Game:
Tyler Johnson vs Luke Glendening
I know… I know… Luke Glendening isn’t an analytics darling and even Tyler Johnson at 50% should dominate the possession game against the Wings 4th line. The stats are not in Glendening’s favor. With that said, you can throw all the numbers in the world at me that you want, but last year in this 1st round matchup the Red Wings unraveled when Glendening got hurt and the series turned in Tampa’s favor. Essentially what I’m saying is that Glendening is the most important player on the ice tonight. The Red Wings chances to win the Stanley Cup are solely based on him. He needs to use his dark magic and shut down the Triplets (unless Johnson doesn’t play… then ¯_(ツ)_/¯)
Systems Breakdown:
Prashanth’s 4 part series has us covered.
1. Detroit’s breakout vs. Tampa’s forecheck
2. Tampa’s breakout vs. Detroit’s forecheck
3. Detroit’s power play vs. Tampa’s penalty kill
4. Tampa’s power play vs. Detroit’s penalty kill
Fun Facts!
Aaaaand one more:
FUN FACT: Jon Cooper soaks up the excess grease from his pizza with a paper towel
— Kyle WIIM (@KyleWIIM) April 13, 2016
Let’s Go Red Wings.
