Right off the bat we’re making some educated guesses on the lineup because we apparently won’t know for certain until gametime
#RedWings Blashill said there were some question marks coming out of Jets game so lineup decisions will be made after warmups.
— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) December 9, 2016
But here are some hints…
Marchenko in tonight
— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) December 9, 2016
Andreas Athanasiou starting with Steve Ott and a Tomas Jurco tonight
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 9, 2016
Red Wings Expected Line-up
| Tomas Tatar | Henrik Zetterberg | Anthony Mantha |
| Dylan Larkin | Frans Nielsen | Luke Glendening |
| Gustav Nyquist | Riley Sheahan | Thomas Vanek |
| Andreas Athanasiou | Steve Ott | Tomas Jurco |
| Danny DeKeyser | Mike Green |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Xavier Ouellet |
| Niklas Kronwall | Alexei Marchenko |
| Petr Mrazek (Starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Blue Jackets Expected Lineup
| Brandon Saad | Alexander Wennberg | Nick Foligno |
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | William Karlsson | Josh Anderson |
| Matt Calvert | Lukas Sedlak | Sam Gagner |
| Seth Jones | David Werenski |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Ryan Murray | Markus Nutivaara |
| Sergei Bobrovsky (Starting) |
| Curtis McElhinney |
Key Matchups
Columbus PP vs Red Wings PK – Columbus is lethal on the power play. They are operating at 25% on the advantage, which is tops in the NHL. However, Detroit has only allowed one power play goal over the last 10 games and they are perfect in the month of December. Even with Detroit’s renaissance on the kill, it will be in their best interests to stay out of the box and keep the top power play off the ice.
Detroit vs. their changing lineup – I can not come up with enough superlatives to describe the line of Tatar, Mantha, Zetterberg, but the rest of the lineup has been constantly tinkered with due to injuries and coaching decisions. The last few games have seen both Larkin and Nyquist spend time on the 4th line. While some of the line changes are unavoidable, it would be nice to see some consistency in the lineup as the Wings start to get some regulars off the IR.
Turn home ice back into an advantage – This is the start of a five game stretch at home for the Wings and Joe Louis Arena has not been kind to them of late. After a 4-0 start to the season at home, Detroit has gone 2-6-2 at the Joe. This homestand is crucial if Detroit wants to get back into a playoff spot.
