Blashill, as always, says that the lineup will be finalized after warmups. Here’s what we’re expecting though based on what the diggers reported. Delicate said the D-pairs were mixed up this morning, so we’ve got a guess on what it means for top & 2nd pair.
Best guess we’ve got is that Blashill is trying to spread out his shut-down defensemen (DK and Quincey) to answer for the Johnson’s line dominance from game 1. Quincey looks like he’ll switch over from the right to the left side being paired with Green. I’m guessing Ericsson will also switch over and leave DK as the left-side defenseman on that pairing as well.
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 | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Niklas Kronwall | Alexey Marchenko |
| Kyle Quincey | 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 |
Keys to the Game:
Figuring out the Matchup Game
We know the players need to execute, but Blashill has to make the adjustments to put players in the right position to succeed. Last game the Tyler Johnson line torched the Red Wings with transition speed, despite playing against a line that had Dylan Larkin and Darren Helm on it. Pucks have to get deep and forwards need to make sure they’re in position to get back, especially with Hedman on the ice.
Special Teams
The Mantha-less power play had a good process going in game 1, but process work is regular season stuff. Results are key. You have to make them pay if they’re going to take penalties. On the other side of the coin, the penalty kill has to keep doing its job. There were some breaks in the last game that they got away with. Tighten up the switch-offs between the forwards in terms of who the pursuit guy is and who’s watching the slot.
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!
A loss tonight puts the Red Wings down 2-0 in the series, which makes it so they have to win four games before losing two. The Wings accomplished this at the beginning of October, the beginning of November, the beginning of December, the beginning of January, near the end of March, and at the beginning of April.
A win tonight evens the series at 1-1 and would “steal” home ice advantage away from the Bolts, meaning that Detroit could guarantee themselves a win in the series by simply not losing any games at home.
Jash is a silly name.
Let’s Go Red Wings.
