Good afternoon Winging It In Motown! Don’t you think our name should be “Winging it in Motown?” Whatever.
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As for the game, there are no significant changes from the Wings regarding today’s lineup from the morning skate. Maybe Kyle Quincey will have the game of his life against his former team, but maybe he won’t. Then again, there are plenty of good fish restaurants in and around LA which he will definitely enjoy after the game.
Forwards
| Dwight King | Anze Kopitar | Jeff Carter |
| Dustin Brown | Jarret Stoll | Justin Williams |
| Matt Frattin | Mike Richards | Tyler Toffoli |
| Kyle Clifford | Colin Fraser | Trevor Lewis |
Defense
| Jake Muzzin | Drew Doughty |
| Willie Mitchell | Slava Voynov |
| Robyn Regehr | Alec Martinez |
Goaltending
| Jonathan Quick |
| Ben Scrivens |
The Red Wings are up for as big of a test as they are going to get all season. While the Wings have indeed enjoyed a measure of success against the Kings over the past few match-ups, Los Angeles tonight comes in as the best 5v5 possession team in the entire NHL, with a 57% Fenwick Close. With that, the Kings are also one of the best defensive teams in the league, with only 31 goals against and a team save percentage of .946.
The good news is that the Kings have a shooting percentage that is 29th in the NHL at 5.1%. The only team with a lower ranking is the Buffalo Sabres. Imagine that.
I’ll add to the morning skate; the Wings really have to watch out for Jeff Carter tonight, who is coming in with six points (4G, 2A) in his last six games. That should not surprise anyone considering he’s being centered by Anze Kopitar, but most of the other Kings are highly manageable.
The Kings will be without Matt Greene, whom many consider an elite NHL defenseman. He’ll be sitting for his third straight game, even though he’s “one hundred percent” healthy according to the Kings’ website. Trade, anyone?
The Wings will have to play really tight defense and give Jimmy the tools to win, otherwise this could turn into a feeding frenzy for LA. The Predators had one of the worst goal differentials in the NHL when they played the Wings before the Winter Classic, and we all know how that turned out.
If you’re picking games to watch on this road trip, this is a good one to stay up for, especially considering there’s almost zero chance the Red Wings will play an extremely close and interesting game against the Ducks tomorrow night in Anaheim (considering the fact that Anaheim does not lose at home).
Game on and LGRW!
