The Detroit Red Wings are in the Twin Cities tonight, with another meeting against the Minnesota Wild after the Red Wings blew a late lead and fell 4-3 in overtime on Saturday. The Red Wings repeated the lost lead on Sunday against Anaheim but prevailed in overtime. The result of taking three-of-four points is critical, but the Red Wings will need to make sure that does not become a trend should they hold another late lead.
The major news this week has been covered, but if you missed it, Ville Husso is now a Duck (or a San Diego Gull now) — more relevant to the Red Wings for cap space than lineup reasons — and Andrew Copp is sidelined for the remainder of the season.
I know not everyone loves the contract, but it significantly thins Detroit’s center position, which was not deep organizationally to begin with. Adding to that, Michael Rasmussen is a center-in-a-pinch option and is not on this one-game trip, but is hopefully only out for the short term.
Sheldon Dries has been recalled from the Griffins (and is a natural center), but Christian Fischer is slated to return to the lineup tonight.
It all makes for interesting timing with the trade deadline set for next Friday (March 7). Detroit has five more games until then, so the front office has about a week-and-a-half to determine if they want to break the organization’s deadline “selling” streak, or ride out the hot streak this team has been on for the last two months, sans Copp.
How to Watch
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Red Wings Projected Lineup
Kasper – Larkin – Raymond
DeBrincat – Compher – Kane
Sodeblom – Veleno – Tarasenko
Berggren – Motte – Fischer
Chiarot – Seider
Edvinsson – Johansson
Gustafsson – Holl
Talbot
Lyon
The Wild haven’t played since Saturday but suffered a significant loss with Joel Eriksson Ek now listed as week-to-week after an injury in practice. That’s a blow for a forward group already down Kirill Kaprizov (injury) and Ryan Hartman (suspension).
Wild Projected Lineup
Boldy – Rossi – Zuccarello
Johansson – Gaudreau – Hinostroza
Foligno – Khusnutdinov – Trenin
Lauko – Shore – Ohgren
Middleton – Faber
Brodin – Spurgeon
Chisholm – Bogosian
Gustavsson
Fleury
