Morning Skate: Red Wings vs Bruins
7:30p, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, Michigan
TV: NBCS, FSDT
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Bruins Blog: Stanley Cup of Chowder
Big game.
Detroit needs to win tonight, plain and simple. The Boston Bruins are right on their coattails for 3rd in the division, and Detroit hasn't done much other than playing like crap lately. Thankfully the month of March is over, and that means the team can turn the page. I believe that we can do this.
It would be great to get Erik Cole, Pavel Datsyuk, and Riley Sheahan back tonight, but I don't know if that's the case. The diggers haven't done much but dig into their noses as of late. In any case, whoever is or isn't in the lineup, a loss tonight will sting. It will tie the Bruins and Wings in points, even though Detroit holds the tie-breaker. There's not many games left, so a little urgency would be nice.
Key matchup is the third line. Boston's third line has been absolutely roaring lately at the hands of rookie David Pastrnak. If Detroit can get Riley Sheahan back tonight, that will go a hell of a long way to reunite that line with some offensive skill.
My biggest concern outside of goaltending is Tomas Tatar. Yeah, he leads the team in goals, but he hasn't played very good hockey as of late. Kid needs to step it up, plain and simple. Less mistakes, simplify his game, and get back to having that electric offensive flare like we are used to. Go get it.
The Expected Lineups (Updated from Ansar Khan)
Forwards
| Gustav Nyquist | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Darren Helm | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Tatar |
| Daniel Cleary | Stephen Weiss | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | Joakim Andersson |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Brendan Smith | Marek Zidlicky |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (Starting) |
| Jimmy Howard (Watching the puck) |
Scratches: Jakub Kindl
Injuries: Jonas Gustavsson (ouchie head) , Erik Cole (ouchie near-head), Tomas Jurco (upper body), Pavel Datsyuk (ankle?) & Johan Franzen (ouchie head)
Forwards
| Brad Marchand | Patrice Bergeron | Reilly Smith |
| Carl Soderberg | David Krejci | Loui Eriksson |
| Milan Lucic | Ryan Spooner | David Pastrnak |
| Cam Talbot | Chris Kelly | Brett Connolly |
Defensemen
| Zdeno Chara | Adam McQuaid |
| Torey Krug | Denis Seidenberg |
| Matt Bartkowski | Zach Trotman |
Goaltenders
| Tuukka Rask (Starting) |
| Niklas Svedberg |
| BRUINS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 39-25-13 (91 pts; 4th in Metropolitan) | Record | 40-23-13 (93 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 2.61 (20th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.87 (8th in NHL) |
| 2.46 (10th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.60 (16th) |
| 18.0% (19th) | Power Play % | 24.0% (2nd) |
| 81.7% (13th) | Penalty Kill % | 81.0% (17th) |
| Patrice Bergeron (21 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (28 goals) |
| Patrice Bergeron (53 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (61 points) |
- The Red Wings are 253-237-95-2 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Boston Bruins.
- Last 10 Games: Boston 4-3-3, Detroit 3-5-2/
- Henrik Zetterberg has 14 points in 16 career games against Boston./