Morning Skate: Detroit Red Wings vs Washington Capitals
7:00 PM ET, Verizon Center
Washington, D.C.
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Capitals Blog: Japers' Rink
WASHINGTON DC -- It was a nice break for the team in Alberta. Playing teams who just aren't very good, and taking home a handful of points. Reality is, things aren't going to stay that way. Tonight, Detroit takes on a red-hot Washington Capitals team who has been trending upwards as of late on the back of all star forward Alex Ovechkin, and goalie Braden Holtby.
There is one glaring flaw in Washington's game, and that is their penalty kill. It isn't good at all. If Detroit wants to make this happen tonight, the power play is going to have to light it up. Thankfully for us, Teemu Pulkkinen and his wicked shot is here. I'm hoping that he sees significant time on the PP.
Unfortunately for the Wings, Tomas Jurco is having disc issues in his back, and Johan Franzen is out with an upper-body ailment. Really hope Jurco is okay, but I wouldn't be opposed to shutting him down until after the all star break. Let's hope that Teemu's excellence at the AHL level translates to the NHL. The Wings need goal scorers right now, and he is the perfect remedy for this.
The Expected Lineups (maybe)
Forwards
| Gustav Nyquist | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tomas Tatar | Pavel Datsyuk | Darren Helm |
| Drew Miller | Riley Sheahan | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Stephen Weiss | Luke Glendening | Joakim Andersson |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Xavier Ouellet | Brendan Smith |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Brian Lashoff, & Daniel Cleary
Injuries: Jakub Kindl (bad at hockey), Tomas Jurco (back), Johan Franzen (upper-body) & Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder)
Forwards
| Alex Ovechkin | Nicklas Backstrom | Andre Burakovsky |
| Marcus Johansson | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Troy Brouwer |
| Brooks Laich | Eric Fehr | Joel Ward |
| Jason Chimera | Jay Beagle | Tom Wilson |
Defensemen
| Brooks Orpik | John Carlson |
| Karl Alzner | Matt Niskanen |
| Nate Schmidt | Mike Green |
Goaltenders
| Braden Holtby (starting) |
| Pheonix Copley |
| CAPITALS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 21-11-8 (50 pts; 4th in Metro) | Record | 22-10-9 (53 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 2.98 (7th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.80 (12th in NHL) |
| 2.52 (13th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.34 (4th) |
| 23.3% (4th) | Power Play % | 24.5% (2nd) |
| 79.1% (22nd) | Penalty Kill % | 86.8% (4th) |
| Alexander Ovechkin (21 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (16 goals) |
| Nicklas Backstrom (39 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (36 points) |
- The Red Wings are 51-42-16 (W-L-T/OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Washington Capitals.
- Last 10 Games: Washington 7-1-2, Detroit 5-3-2
- Teemu Pulkkinen has 0 career points against Washington. WILL THE COLD STREAK END TONIGHT?!?/
Updates from Khan(!):
Lines: Helm-Datysuk-Tatar Nyquist-Cleary (for Z)-Abdelkader Miller-Sheahan-Pulkkinen Andersson-Glendening-Weiss
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 10, 2015 <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Babcock said Zetterberg and Quincey good to go tonight. Howard starting. Only other change is Pulkkinen in for Cleary.</p>— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnsarKhanMLive/status/553961703290195968">January 10, 2015</a></blockquote>
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